Luna's Rebellion
by RightingLegends
Summary: Luna decides that she has had enough of Fate's plan for her friend Harry Potter, so with the help of family, she decides to help Harry follow a different path.
1. Luna's Rebellion Part 0 - Prologue

Luna's Rebellion

By Righting Legends

Prologue

Silvery grey eyes opened slowly and stared through a curtain of hanging blonde hair at the bed five feet below the waking girl.

"Oh poo!" Luna Lovegood said emphatically as she realized where, and more importantly, when she was. "Mummy, we need to talk and then we need to conference in Grandma to change the plan that she has me following, it just does not work."

If anyone had been able to see the one they called Looney Lovegood at that moment, they would have seen her eyes turn completely white, followed by her body taking on a golden glow. However, since Luna had taken the precaution of warding her bed while sleeping, as well as sleeping up in the canopy that hung above her bed since soft and comfy air made a much better mattress than the one on her bed that had things like itching powder, flobber worm larva, and skittering eldies covering it, though she seemed to be the only one to see the eldies. If one of the muggleborn students had observed her sleeping arrangements, they would have told her about gravity and why it was impossible to sleep the way she did. Her response would have been to say that Gravity and she had a great friendship, but they had mutually agreed not to interfere with each other unless it was mutually beneficial. Then she would have skipped away in the time needed for the resultant brain reboot that said muggleborn student would have to go through.

While Luna's body was still very much located in the physical location of Hogwarts Castle in Scotland, her consciousness was transported elsewhere to a bright white room that held her mother Selene Lovegood.

"What is it you wanted to talk about, my daughter?"

"You know what I am upset about, mummy. I got sent back again because of the stupid plan that the stuffed shirts in celestial management came up with. First they let the interfering old goat lover put him in a home with no love; even though he continually spouts the rubbish that love is the power that Tommy boy knows not. Then they allow Dumbledork to set up his tests to sharpen his weapon in case his plans go awry, and they let Ronald 'I have broomstick, wealth, popularity, and penis envy' Weasley constantly derail the direction that he is supposed take. And don't try and tell me it is because Ronald is his first friend, because even a friendless emotionally crippled sadist would drop him as a friend after the second betrayal without intervention from someone."

"Another thing is the whole 'I am responsible for the whole world and so I need to have a messiah complex and sacrifice myself to save the sheeple who turn on me every time the wind shifts or a rafdibbler farts' attitude that the old reprobate made sure Harry had. What exactly is the point of allowing the twisted old man to try and make Harry into another dark lord like he did Tommy? Does someone in the pantheon owe Fumblebore a favor or something? There just seems to be no rhyme or reason to the way that it seems that every supposedly responsible adult just ignores the condition Harry is in when he comes back to Hogwarts from his summer at the Dursleys. I know that Poppy is constantly being obliviated after she treats Harry for his injuries; and McGonagall has been conditioned to believe that the sun rises and sets out of Dumbledore's ass, but really, is everyone that blind?"

"Bumblebee, take a deep breath and then tell me what you want to do. I know that the last few times through your aunt insisted you just help Harry through his trials without interfering, but now that we do not have to follow the stupid paths set forth by meddling old men, we can choose any path we want."

With a squeal of delight, Luna jumped into the arms of her mum, wrapping her arms tight around her mother's neck with a grin practically splitting her face. When she pulled back to look in her mum's eyes, she saw the same mischief in those eyes as she saw reflected in her own. "Mum, I think that we should, to paraphrase Harry, Luna-ize the plan with heavy doses of Harryistic feats of luck and magic. Now here is my plan..."

Sometime later, after Selene Lovegood had recovered from the ache in her side from laughing uncontrollably, she began to add her own touches to it until both mother and daughter came to an agreement as to how Luna would guide Harry through his tasks while ruining the plans of all the evil old pedophiles who wanted Harry for themselves. With a final hug and a warning to watch out for Nargles, Luna was sent back to her body in the physical world, and in doing so, started a chain reaction that would be felt in every corner of the globe.


	2. Luna's Rebellion Part 1

Part 1

It had been a week since Harry Potter's name had come out of the Goblet of Fire, and the only one who had really stuck by him was his one true friend Hermione Jane Granger. There were others around the school who had told him that they believed that he had not entered himself in the Tournament, but they were not in a position to back him vocally because of the backlash they would had received for their support, it had been Neville Longbottom and Ginny Weasley who had approached him first, soon followed by Susan Bones, Padma Patil, and then to Harry's surprise, Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davis from Slytherin. It made Harry feel good having others believe in him, but the only one helping him was his friend Hermione.

What was causing him to go over the frustrations he had come up against was the latest interference to his efforts to ensure his continuing survival through the end of this Merlin forsaken tournament. He had made an offhand comment to Hermione while they were studying about hiring a tutor to catch him up with the other champions who were three years his senior. Hermione jumped on his ramblings and the next thing he knew; they were standing outside Professor McGonagall's office door waiting for her to answer their summons. When they were escorted into her office, Hermione took the lead.

"We have been studying nonstop for the last week, but the truth is that Harry is woefully unprepared for this tournament or the tasks that he will inevitably face. In my research, I found that it is not uncommon for the tournament to lose at least one or more of the champions during the tasks, and I also learned that the last tournament was decided by the fact that the winner had only lost his head while the other two were eaten by a Nundu. What we propose is that Harry hires a tutor from outside the school to help train him. In the rules of the tournament, it says that a champion can bring in a trainer from outside his or school to help prepare, it is only forbidden to get help from his own teachers or faculty. We would like to propose Remus Lupin as Harry's trainer since he is no longer on staff here at Hogwarts."

"That is an excellent suggestion Ms. Granger, and one that I support whole heartedly. I will take your suggestion to Professor Dumbledore as soon as I am done with my next class, and then we can contact Remus after dinner to come back to Hogwarts, hopefully by tomorrow. Ten points to Gryffindor for your continued support of Harry." It was with a much lighter heart that Harry and Hermione headed back to the library to look for more spells that he needed to learn to survive.

Later in the great hall during dinner, Harry realized that there was virtually no chance that the tutor would be allowed. While Hermione was considered by many to be the smartest witch of the age, she still believed that authority figures would do what was best for the ones that were in their care. Harry was wise to the world having grown up with the Dursley's and their abuse. Time after time Harry had learned the lesson that the only one he could count on was himself instead of the adults that were in his life. Report Vernon to a teacher for beating or starving him, arrive home and receive a beating for the call Vernon or Petunia got from the teacher as they 'investigated' the allegations. Harry had learned how to read people from a very early age, the better to not be there when something triggered the urge to beat Harry before throwing him back into the cupboard. So when Harry saw the look on his head of house's face, he knew that the answer that she had for them was no, no matter how much it would increase the chances of survival for one Harry James Potter.

After dinner, it was with great regret that McGonagall informed them that their request was denied, the reasons given were cost, Remus being a Werewolf, and the fairness to the other competitors. The head of Gryffindor was very visibly unhappy, but she assured them that Professor Dumbledore was always looking out for the students and what was best for them. Harry didn't even bother listening to the rest of her excuses for the reasoning of the Great Albus Dumbledore, just walking away as he became more convinced than ever that it wasn't just Voldemort that wanted to kill him.

The sound of the door of the classroom that Hermione and he had claimed for themselves to train opening drew him out of his funk and into readiness, since there were at least a dozen locking and silencing charms on the door to keep from being interrupted. Harry and Hermione drew their wands and faced the door, only to be stunned as the door opened, backwards. It is not that the door opened outwards into the hall when it was supposed to open into the classroom, it was that the edge with the hinges opened into the room while the handle side acted as the hinged area. With a happy giggle, a small, blonde girl with slightly unfocused silver grey eyes skipped through before closing the door behind her. She waved at the two of them, showing them that she was not holding a wand, and then she skipped passed them to the teacher chair, where she sat and immediately began to spin the chair around, giggling in delight.

Harry and Hermione looked into each other's eyes in question, and then Hermione slowly moved over to the door and began to cast charms at the door. The more charms she cast, the more frustrated she became, until with a resigned sigh, she turned and stalked toward the young girl who had joined them in their room.

"How did you get through the door without breaking or even disturbing any of the wards we put on the door?" Hermione had the look that Harry had termed her 'terrier sensing a hidden rat' look which meant she would drag the information that she wanted out of the strange girl no matter what it took.

The blonde giggled and held a sign up that had not been in her hands a moment before. The sign said that they would have to trust her and follow her if they wanted answers, but that they needed to stop talking. Harry and Hermione looked at each other again, and then both turned to the girl and nodded their heads. With a large grin, the girl stood and walked over to the rear wall, where she walked back and forth three times and then placed both of her hands on the wall and pushed. With barely a sound, the stones that made up the now revealed hidden door swung into the secret passage and the two stunned teens saw a lighted passage that led up and away from where they were. With a wave of her hand, the blonde girl led them into the passage and on to a new path for their destiny.

It was less than ten minutes later that the door to the classroom swung open violently and Professor Snape barged in wand drawn. "Potter, come out from under that invisibility cloak and accompany me to the Headmaster's office. You were not given permission to use this classroom, and you will have detention for your lack of respect in not asking before you just took over what is not yours. Potter. Potter! Accio Potter's invisibility cloak." When nothing happened and he got no response from Harry or Hermione, Severus Snape began casting stunning spells at random, trying to get the two Gryffindors to reveal themselves. With one final cast, he turned to the door and spoke.

"Albus, I do believe that they have somehow deceived your spy network. They are not in here, and it appears that they may not have been in here today."

A shimmer in the hall quickly became Albus Dumbledore, as he disbanded his disillusionment spell and walked in to the classroom behind his friend Severus. "I suppose I should have expected Miss Granger to set up several blinds so that she could help her friend Harry. Even now, the listening spells in here are registering their voices indistinctly, mixed in with ours. Annoyingly clever girl that Granger, it would be so much easier for Harry to fulfill his destiny if she were not there to help him all the time. I will need to consider whether or not she is of use to my plans or if there is a way to guide to a proper wizard to bring power back into a fading line. Let's go check a few of the other classrooms that they might be in and see if we can find the wayward children. It would not do for Harry to push his magic to the point that it releases him from the restrictions that he has."

It was with mounting fury that Harry and Hermione watched the projection on the wall of what was happening in their former training room. It was Hermione who broke the silence first. "What are the two of them playing at? The way they were talking, it is almost as if they want Harry to walk to his death willingly, with a vacant smile plastered to his obedient face. I can't believe that the Headmaster and Professor Snape would do that to you, not matter how much Professor Snape hates you." Harry just met her eyes and shrugged. It didn't surprise him that Snape would be in on a plot to help him to his demise; it was only Dumbledore's duplicity that gave him a moment's pause. Looking back on his life, he realized that Dumbledore had probably been in on most of the plots to hurt or kill him as he grew up.

"Thank you for rescuing us from the room." Harry said to the blonde stranger who had led them to the room they were in. "I am Harry Potter, and this is my best friend Hermione Granger. Would it be rude of me to ask for your name, and how you knew that we were in need of rescue?"

"Oh, oops, I forgot that part since we have done it all before at one point or another." The blond girl said with a bit of a hidden smile. "My name is Luna Lovegood, third year Ravenclaw, and I have convinced myself that you need help with the tasks set about before you."

"How do you know what the tasks are, they have not even told the champions anything that would help them to figure it out, just for them to be prepared for anything." Hermione asked, at once cutting right to the heart of the matter, while Harry felt content letting his friend quiz Luna for answers.

"I am not allowed to share family secrets with you just yet, but it would benefit Harry greatly if the two of you would trust me. What I can tell you is that the first task that Harry will have to face is getting past a nesting dragon to collect a false egg from her clutch without injuring the dragon or her eggs."

"WHAT! What the hell are those idiots thinking?" Hermione ranted. "It would be bad enough to send adult wizards to face a dragon, but those idiots are forcing Harry to compete as well. He might be killed or maimed for life and they are treating this whole thing like a game."

"Hermione, calm down and breathe. I agree with you and if there was any way that I could get out of it, I would; but they told me I would lose my magic if I did not compete. What I think is stupid is the fact that they expect us to go at this blind, with no knowledge of what we have to face." Harry was terrified about what he now knew, at least if Luna really knew the truth. "Luna, I need you to tell me how you know about the dragons, though now that I know, some of the comments that Charlie Weasley made this summer about seeing us this year now make sense."

"I can tell you, but I need you to promise me something, and also let me do something to protect you from revealing secrets to people who have no need of learning them."

"Hermione and I will promise to do whatever you need us to, since we are both set on me living through this tournament." Harry said while looking for and receiving confirmation from Hermione's expressive eyes.

"Okay," Luna said as she pulled her wand out from where it was tucked in her hair behind her ear. "This is a family spell that will keep your mind secure from those with nefarious intent." Her wand began to weave a pattern that was becoming almost visible in its complexity and power.

The almost completed pattern made Hermione gasp and whisper in awed surprise, "It's a fractal."

No sooner had she said that, than a burst of intense light that shifted through all the known colors, and even a few that were unknown, before fading once again. It was a very surprised Harry and Hermione who found themselves lying flat on a soft pad with no real knowledge of how they ended up where they were. Sitting up, the two blinked like two confused owls as the spots slowly cleared from their vision. What they saw was Luna sitting in a comfortable looking recliner, her body draped across it with her legs dangling over the arm and swinging as she read a newspaper that she held upside down. When she felt their eyes focused on her, Luna folded her paper and put it aside where it popped away in a small puff of smoke, and then she pushed herself to her feet in one smooth motion.

"Sorry I didn't warn you about the effects of the spell, but it was best for you not to fight it. You were right when you said it was a fractal pattern Hermione, and now that it has been place in your minds, there is no possible way to read your thoughts without you allowing access. Anyone who tries will end up lost in the infinite unless you expel them or they retreat right away. One of my relatives learned about fractals and the complexity of them while he was visiting New Mexico in the US, and created the spell I just used on you to protect our family's secrets, so thank you for allowing me to cast it on you."

Luna paused to focus on her thoughts and then continued. "The first thing that I need to tell you is that I am a seer, but not in the way that either of you think. I am not like cousin Sybil, who is like a blind dog searching for a bone, once in a while getting lucky and finding one. I am more in line with the chaos readers of the ancient Persians, who saw all roads to the future, and had to focus to see the ones that had the most beneficial outcome for the ones they served. It is why people call me Loony, I find it difficult to remain in the present place, time, and dimension for long when there are so many interesting things to see and experience. It is more important than anything else in this world that neither of the two dark lords learns the truth about my abilities or the world will burn."

"Two dark lords? I thought that Voldemort was the only dark lord around." Hermione was looking at Luna with her usual intensity; it was Harry who answered her question though.

"Hermione, isn't it obvious to you who she is talking about? Riddle is one of the dark lords, but it is so obvious to me now that I think about it, Albus Dumbledore is the other."

"No he is not! You take that back Harry. Albus Dumbledore is the leader of the light and a great man who defeated Grindelwald, and then held Voldemort in check so that he couldn't take over England." Hermione was almost trembling as she defended the figure of authority that she had placed on a pedestal above all others, including her friend Harry. "It was said that the only one Lord Voldemort feared in the last war was Albus Dumbledore and that he was the greatest light lord since Merlin, I read all about him in The Fight against the Dark."

"Hermione, who was that book written by?" Luna asked innocently.

"Percy 'BAD Wolf' Ricman, a man who has researched dark lords from all over the world."

"What is Dumbledore's full name?"

"Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore; why?

"Hermione, use the mind that everyone says you have and think for yourself instead of the books you have read or the authority figures in your life. The sooner you realize that leaders are human and just as susceptible to corruption as ordinary people and that authors write books from their own perspective and prejudices, the happier you will be."

Again, it was Harry whose eyes lit up in understanding; since he was not overly burdened with the belief that all adults were trustworthy and only looking out for what was best those they were responsible for. "Hermione, the initials of Dumbledore are A.W.P.B.D. Now look at the name of the author of the book that talks about how great Dumbledore is. Percy 'BAD Wolf' Ricman is an inside joke that probably is only usually gotten by the one who wrote the book, Percival Brian Albus Dumbledore Wolf or WulfRic man. That is a great prank worthy of the marauders, and the whole wizarding world fell for it. I'll even bet that the reputation of Percy Ricman as a warrior and researcher of the fight against the dark was fostered by Albus Dumbledore talking up his reputation in international circles. Brilliant, just bloody brilliant."

Hermione could only stare at her best friend in stunned silence as her mind processed what he had said. She mentally began to go over books that she had read that talked about the greatness of Albus Dumbledore in almost reverent terms, and she slowly came to the realization that each of them had been written by authors now suspect or by people who followed the man religiously. She was horrified that she had been sucked into the cult of Dumbledore by books that were written either by or at his command. Her idolization of authority crashed down in fiery flames, and Hermione promised herself that only those like Harry and now Luna, who had earned her unreserved trust, would receive it from now on.

"Now that Hermione has broken out of her mental chains, it is time for Harry to run the errand that he has been thinking about since I said dragons. Harry, you can go out that door, which exits behind a portrait in the entry hall. Go outside and head to the Beaubaton's carriage, picking up Cedric and then Victor on the way; Fleur will be on the far side near the lake. When you are done, go back to the portrait and tap your wand on the left, right, and then bottom of the frame and it will open up back into this room."

Harry jumped up and ran out the door leaving the two girls alone in the room. "So now that we have finally cleared your mind of wrackspurts, let me tell you how we are going to help Harry." Soon Hermione forgot all about Harry as Luna began going over the training plan she had designed to ensure that this time the Boy-who-lived would survive to become a man.

Outside the entrance doors, Harry found Cedric talking to Cho Chang and her friends, and though he didn't want to interrupt, he got Cedric's attention and asked him if he could talk to him as fellow champions. Cedric agreed and soon the two of them were heading towards the giant carriage that had come from France. Halfway there, Harry began to wave to something in the air, and when Cedric looked up, he saw a rapidly falling speck that soon became recognizable as Victor Krum. The International Quidditch star buzzed them, inches above their heads before looping and coming back around, landing in front of them. Harry quickly asked him to join the other two champions in a private talk, and soon the procession of two became three. Once the three young champions rounded the far side of the carriage, they caught sight of Fleur sitting by herself on the shore of the Black Lake wrapped in a light blanket as she read a book intently.

"Excuse me Fleur, but I was wondering if I could talk to you along with other champions about something I found out that I think all of us need to know." Harry was still a little hesitant about talking to strangers, but he knew that what he was doing was important. When he got the slightest of nods from the French Champion indicating he should sit, he moved so there was room for the other two to join them sitting on the grassy embankment.

"I would appreciate it if one of you could cast privacy wards around us so that we can keep people from trying to learn what we are doing. I would, but I have not learned any, and Hermione is not here to do it for me." Harry said with a smile that was returned three fold.

"I vill do." Victor said as he stood and started speaking in Russian. The champions were soon surrounded by a dome of crackling energy, and somehow Harry knew that the dome continued even underground, completely protecting their privacy. When he was done, Victor explained. "Is spell developed during cold war between Russia and America. It is not as, how you say, subtle as American magic, but it is evective at vat it does, ya?"

"You have got to teach me that." Harry said as he looked at the crackling sphere. "I think that it would be dead useful in many situations."

"What did you bring us here for Harry? Not that I don't mind hanging out with you three, but I was just about to ask a certain young lady to go with me to the next Hogsmeade weekend, and I would really like to get back to do that ." Cedric said, focusing the other two champions once again on Harry and what he had to say.

"I just learned what the first task is, and I think that it is stupid that they want us to go in blind and risk our lives for their entertainment. We will each face a nesting dragon, having to get past her to grab a false egg from her clutch, and we will lose points for any injury that we, the dragon, or the eggs receive. I for one don't know how I am going to approach the first task, but I do know that I have a much better chance of surviving it with foreknowledge of the task set before me. I hope that I have helped you all with this information, and I also hope that each of you is able to better prepare for what you need to do now that you know what you will face." With that said Harry jumped up and banished the privacy sphere away with a wave of his hand before hurrying away to the castle so he could get back to his best friend and his new friend.

If he had looked back, he would have seen the stunned looks he was receiving from the other champions as they contemplated his use of silent, wandless magic to cancel Victor's very powerful charm. It was Fleur who summed up all of their thoughts when she commented, "I guess that 'e is not so leetle after all."

The day of the first task had arrived, and Harry had been prepared by his two friends, now being armed with a plan A, plan B, Plan C, and at least a dozen more at Hermione's insistence even though Luna said the first would work marvelously. He shook hands with his fellow champions after they had each drawn their dragons, and Harry was both glad and apprehensive that he was going last. One by one, the other champions had been called as Harry sat peacefully meditating inside the Russian privacy sphere that Victor had taught the other champions. He was focusing on the task he faced, and the moves he needed to use to accomplish his goal of survival. It was finally time for his turn, as there was someone standing in the door of the tent, waving at him to get his attention.

Harry walked out of the tent into the arena, only to see the biggest, nastiest dragon that was listed in The Big Book of Dragons as still being alive and thriving in the world today, a Hungarian Horntail. Harry was never so glad that he didn't even consider taking the advice of that loon Moody about using his precious Firebolt against the angry, fire breathing, and hungry looking dragon before him. With a calm he wasn't sure he really had, he moved into position to start his attempt. When the signal blared, starting his time, Harry turned away from the crowd and raised his wand in the air, a look of concentration on his face.

It only took seconds for the bag he summoned from the entrance to the champions tent where it had lay, disillusioned, to reach him. He unzipped the duffle bag and began pulling out the objects that he would need. First out was a rubber playground ball that had five metal points sticking out of the bottom at different angles. Next came out a pair of gloves that seemed to be made of the softest type of leather, anyone who had ever seen a cowboy from America would have recognized them as wrangler gloves that cowboys used. The last thing he pulled out was a golden lasso that Luna had said she borrowed from her cousin Di. Once he was ready, he threw the ball up in the air with his left hand, and then cast a spell on it with his wand, making it shoot up in the air until it was out of sight. Next, he pulled on the special gloves that Hermione had gotten Sirius to express order from a magical ranch in Arizona, USA, and then he picked up the golden lasso and approached his dragon opponent head on.

Harry began twirling the lasso slowly while he looked straight into the dragon's eyes. Once he felt he had established a connection with the giant creature, he spoke. $$"I have a boon to ask of you great dragon."$$

$$"Why would I grant you a boon puny child, when I sense that you have nothing with which to trade with me. It is enough that I have been forced here and chained to a nest full of false eggs that the stupid two legged keepers think I believe are my own, but that there is one who is even now looking at my true eggs back in the clearing and thinking about how he will profit from their sale since I am not there to defend them."$$

$$"All I ask is that you allow me to claim the one egg that is different than the others, and then you will be taken back to your true clutch and once again can protect them."$$

$$"No little grease spot, I think that I will eat you and then wait for the right time to escape from here and hunt down the thief who thinks that he can steal my children."$$

$$"Suit yourself, I promised my friend that I would try and talk into doing it the easy way, but you have left me no choice. What happens now is on your head, not mine, though I do swear to you now that I will make sure that your clutch is safe once I have defeated you."$$

The strange sounds of what would later be recognized as a dragon laughing rumbled through out the stadium. $$"You are amusing, little two leg, thinking that you can defeat me. Well, do your best, I will honor you in my memories and song as I remember the way you taste and share that knowledge with my offspring."$$

Harry had gradually increased the speed of the twirling lasso as he spoke to the dragon; now that the negotiations were over, it was time for plan B. Harry raised his left hand to the heavens and shouted a phrase in a language that only he and his two training partners knew. Lightning flashed across the sky, caused a massive crash of thunder that drowned out whatever else he was saying. Then Harry dodged to the left to avoid the jet of flame that came from the dragon, and then several things happened at once.

The first thing that happened was that Harry flicked the lasso out and just before it could pass the head of the dragon, he yanked it back, causing it to snap like a whip, striking the now enraged dragon in the soft tissue inside of her nose. She leapt forward to get closer to the soon to be eaten insect that dared to show her disrespect, and that is when the crowd saw the return of the objects that Harry had sent up in the rubber ball, only they were no longer small metal objects in a rubber ball. What came blasting out of the clouds were three giant sized U-shaped nails, the cross brace and tops covered by a thick rubber protective coating. It quickly became obvious what the rubber was for as the first and biggest thick metal staple slammed into the ground on either side of the dragons body, driving her to her belly and trapping her wings against her sides. Next to come down was the staple that trapped her tail, followed by the one that came down around her neck, effectively immobilizing all but her head. It was only a split second later that the lasso in Harry's hand once more flicked out and wrapped around the outraged but now defeated dragon's mouth so that Harry could get the egg and finish the task without any more risk.

Harry calmly walked past the dragon and retrieved the egg that was his intended goal, before moving back to the head of the magnificent dragon. Once next to her head, looking into her bludger sized eye, he began to speak to her in a quiet voice. "I am sorry that I was forced to defeat you, all for the entertainment of these people. If you allow me to take off the lasso that is muzzling you without trying to get retribution, I can use it to bring the egg thief before you for your judgment." When she nodded at him, he grabbed the end and mentally gave the magic lasso its next command. With the speed of true justice, the golden lasso flashed up into the stands behind the judges stand, wrapping up a sorry looking individual who was busy picking the pockets of visiting dignitaries, and brought him back into the arena to face the dragon.

It was then that the crowd finally overcame their stunned silence and burst into cheers that drowned out any chance of anyone but Harry and the dragon hearing what the thief Mundungus Fletcher had to say. It was Charlie Weasley who reached Harry's side first, and he was stunned when Harry opened the thief's coat and pulled from a hidden, expanded pocket containing four ultra-rare Hungarian Horntail eggs as well as eggs taken from the clutches of the other three dragons. Charlie was furious, as the man had been vouched for by Albus Dumbledore himself. Harry just nodded his head at the dragon, and with a jaunty wave, made his way to the exit of the arena. In all the chaos, no one notice until later that he had disappeared from the arena and was not seen again until minutes before curfew, where he told Ron Weasley to piss off after the redheaded trash disposal attempted to get back into his good graces. No one really noticed that Hermione Granger and Luna Lovegood were missing until moments before curfew as well.


	3. Luna's Rebellion Part 2

Part 2

It was a few weeks later that Luna pulled Harry and Hermione into an empty class room and made the statement that made grown men quake in fear. "Harry, we need to talk."

Hermione couldn't help the giggles that burst forth from behind her hand as she stared at the look of absolute terror and fear that appeared upon Harry's face. Here was a boy who had climbed the back of a troll and stuck his wand up its nose in an attempt to save her without hesitation, and who had killed a massive basilisk and driven away hundreds of dementors with nary a pause, yet those four little words made him almost catatonic. It was only Harry's look of hurt that allowed her to get control of her giggle attack.

"Harry, calm down and breathe. I am sure that if we just listen to Luna, it will not be as bad as you think it is going to be." Hermione was making sure she locked her eyes with Harry's so that he would not continue in his panic attack. She knew that she had gotten through to him when he lost his look of flight, and he began to breathe normally again. Luna's next statement almost saw that look come back in spades.

"Harry, Professor McGonagall is going to pull you aside as your head of house within the next day or so to tell you that the school is having a Yule Ball on Christmas Day and as a champion, you will be required to have a date and open the Ball by dancing with your date." She paused as she watched Hermione first restrain Harry with a body bind, and then finally sit on his lap when he broke the spell to keep him from bolting out of the room.

"I don't know how to dance." Was Harry's first reaction, but it was quickly followed by a look of horror. "Who am I supposed to take to the Ball? I am not dating anyone, and I don't want to end up with someone who is only with me because I am The-Boy-Who-Lived." Harry dropped his head into his hands in frustration, not seeing the look that passed between the two girls who were helping him.

"I have a suggestion, and I would like for you to hear me out before you make a decision." When she got a nod from Harry, and more importantly Hermione; Luna continued. "I have been told by the Blubbering Humdingers that the Ball will be for those in fourth year and up, excluding third years like me unless we are asked to go by someone older. I would like for you to ask me to the Ball so I can go this time, and I am sure that Hermione and I can teach you how to dance by the time the Ball comes around."

What about Hermione? I do not want to leave her out; she is my best friend and the one that I thought that I should ask."

"Hermione will be asked to the Ball by someone else within the next few days, and it will allow you both to develop a long friendship with that person which will help to accomplish some of your goals in the future. Also, just because she will not be there with you does not mean that she will not be able to dance with you. By the time we are done with you, there be very few girls there that will not want to take a turn in your arms as you guide them across the dance floor."

"Who is going to ask me?" Hermione interrupted impatiently.

"That is not the way this works Hermione. I see the possibilities, but it is only with Harry that I can see the specifics. Just don't tell the red menace or his sister any of this. While Ginny is okay, Ronald is not the friend you think he is, and he will try everything he can to interfere with your happiness and enjoyment at the Ball. Don't worry about him though, I have a plan to take care of him and keep his attention off of the two of you on that night." Luna giggled as her eyes unfocussed and became more milky white than silver grey. "I think that after the ball, Ronald will be too preoccupied with the fallout from his actions to bother the two of you about anything you are doing."

"Okay Luna." Harry agreed. "You have not steered me wrong yet, and with you helping with the tactics, and Hermione helping with the spell knowledge and teaching me what she has learned from all her reading, I don't suppose I can go wrong. I just wish that I had not wasted so much time goofing off with Ron the last three years instead of preparing for the future. Imagine where I would have been if I had allowed myself to flourish instead of just wallowing in mediocrity."

Luna interrupted Harry's lament. "Harry, if you had shown what you were capable of from the beginning, the manipulation of your life would have increased tenfold by meddlesome old men both here at Hogwarts and in the broader wizarding world. It was good that you used your time while everyone else was sleeping to increase your knowledge, it will help you with what you need to do later. Now that you are studying to ensure your very survival in this silly tournament, the meddlers are sitting back and taking a hands off approach to you. That all will come to an end after the tournament is completed and you will need to be prepared to forge your own path. Now stand up, it is time for you to learn to dance."

When the day of the dance arrived, everyone was shocked to see that Harry Potter was being accompanied by the loony Ravenclaw to the Ball while his companion Hermione was escorted to the Ball by International Quidditch Star Victor Krum. They were even more surprised when Harry began dancing with Hermione after the opening dance with Luna.

Daphne Greengrass, known to one and all as the Ice Queen of Slytherin, was contemplating whether or not she should contact one of her father's associates who were primarily used for 'solving problems,' to get rid of the body of her date after she was done with him. She had agreed to go to the ball with seventh year Slytherin Brutus Gamerton since he had not shown any real interest in a relationship with any females in their house at Hogwarts. It was only once he began drinking from the flask of Fire-Whiskey that he had brought with him that the veneer of eloquence and breeding fell. Their one dance so far had been spent with her hand on his chest to keep him from pulling them chest to chest, and he spent the entire dance staring down her cleavage. It wasn't like she had the ample blessings of girls like Susan Bones or Lavender Brown who were bigger in bra size than most seventh years by the time they were half way through their second year.

At first she was flattered that he found her décolletage to be worth looking at, but the leer that grew on his face and the fact that he never looked back up into her eyes soon found her wanting to find a nearby oubliette to dump his soon to be cold body down. It was the hand that appeared in front of her, accompanied by the request of a dance that threw her from her plans of murder. Looking up into those piercing green eyes that mesmerized all of the girls at Hogwarts, and some of the guys if they admitted it, there was only one answer available and soon the couple was spinning around the floor.

"I am surprised to find myself here in your arms Potter, and even more surprised that you would ask a Slytherin to dance since it is well known how you feel about my house."

"I do not hate Slytherins Daphne, only the few who are not really Slytherins in their actions and give the house a bad reputation."

"Malfoy!" She spat out in undisguised disgust.

"Among others, though if I had not met Malfoy on the train, I would not have fought the hat when it tried to place me in the noble house of Slytherin." Only Harry's superbly trained new dancing skills allowed him to correct Daphne's stumble into a spectacular dip, followed by a spin into more dancing. Harry continued as if nothing had happened. "It has provided me no end of amusement in knowing the fact that the people who spout the pure blood dogma and praise the name of their Lord Voldemort as the savior of their position in society when he is the son of a near squib and a muggle." Once again Harry kept Daphne from falling in her surprise at his statement as they continued to glide around the dance floor.

Daphne decided to change the subject. "I am surprised that your friend Weasley has not come blustering over here to scream at you for dancing with a dirty snake."

Harry chuckled. "Well, that would be rather hypocritical of him considering."

At Daphne's questioning glance, he continued. "Luna told Hermione and me not to worry about Ronald; that she would take care of him. A few days later, his mother sent these god-awful maroon robes that were at least 100 years old and eaten by generations of moths who had no taste. A day after that, he got a box from an admirer who wanted him to look nice for the ball, it contained a brand new robe and contained a note telling him to expect accessories. Every few days a new box would show up, containing things like a sash to match his date's dress, cufflinks for his sleeves, a pin for his lapel, and a guide for getting a corsage at the flower stall in Hogsmeade along with a card that said the cost was covered. The weeks leading up to the ball, Ron has been lording over the other males in Gryffindor about the fact that he has a woman who is clearly devoted to him. When we woke up this morning, along with presents, Ron had instructions on what he was to do to meet his date, and how he was to present himself and act this evening, along with a note from Molly telling him that he had better behave and not shame the family by acting like anything other than a proper pure blood." Harry paused in his tale, and it finally drove Daphne to urge him to finish the story about his former best mate.

"When the champions and our companions for this evening were seated at the head table, I began to look around for Ron Weasley expecting him to blow a fuse at any moment about the fact that Hermione was attending on the arm of Victor Krum. When I located him, it was to see Ron I hate all things Slytherin Weasley sitting in the back corner of the room with Millicent Bulstrode on his arm looking very pleased with herself and her date." It was a very good thing that the song had ended at that moment and that Harry had steered The Ice Queen of Slytherin to the edge of the floor where he had to guide her into a chair as she tried to contain her laughter at the image Harry's story caused her to picture.

"Where... Where are they now?" She gasped out.

"Last I saw, Millicent was dragging Ron out to the gardens for an intimate stroll among the roses. That was right after I finished my dance with Hermione and was coming over to ask you to dance."

"Speaking of that Mr. Potter, why did you ask me to dance?"

"Well, I had several reasons. First was that both Luna and Hermione told me that you were someone who I should get to know, because you were friendly to Hermione in Runes and Arithmancy, and because you were someone who could explain to me wizarding culture and my place in it since I am without a clue when it comes to that. Second was the fact that you have never been one to attack or insult me, and you didn't wear the badge that Draco passed out to the school; and the third reason was that I figured by the look on your face after your first dance with your date, that it would be prudent of me to get over to you and ask you to dance before you committed murder."

"For people who talk about the superiority of their birth and lineage so much, I have noticed a distinct lack of class, couth, tact, or breeding in the behavior that the pureblood males exhibit. I once attended a class on manners and etiquette in my primary school and one of the lessons that stuck with me is that manners where necessary no matter what station the person you are talking to is from. Manners are more about establishing your breeding and couth, than for showing off and being snooty. Without having proper manners, you reveal yourself to be not much of a man."

"Well said Harry, I wish that more people would subscribe to that philosophy, it would make life ever so much more pleasant. Thank you once again for the dance, and for saving me from the punishment I would have received for ending the family line of Gamerton by throwing Brutus off of the Astronomy Tower later this evening. May I suggest that your next dance partner after another dance with your date should be Susan Bones? She is someone that you should cultivate a friendship with, not only because her Aunt is the head of the DMLE, but because the Bones family has long been allied with the Potters against those who would lead our society to the extremes of dark or light."

"Thank you for the dance Miss Greengrass, I look forward to developing a friendship in the future, no matter what our houses think."

Harry spent the rest of the evening dancing with witches that Luna or Hermione pointed out to him. He found that it was very easy to talk to females as he guided them around the floor, making sure to avoid stepping on their toes at all costs. Susan Bones offered to set up a meeting between her aunt and Harry's group, Megan Jones offered to talk to her aunt Gwennog about Harry's opportunities in professional Quidditch, and Su Li offered Harry potions lessons over the summer at her family's apothecary and potions shop. The big surprise came when Luna brought first Professor Vector, and then Professor Babbling, the two youngest professors at Hogwarts, to dance with him, and both offered to tutor him in their subjects of Arithmancy and Ancient Runes until he caught up with his year mates when Harry revealed how much he despised Divination. It was a lovely evening spent making new friends and allies, and the only time the red menace started to interfere with his Weasley temper, his date Millicent came up and whispered something in his ear which had his face go from Weasley red to so pale every freckle stood out on his face. When Harry finally got to bed, he thought about how much his feet would probably hurt the next day, yet with all the new friends he had made he considered any pain he suffered worth it. With a smile on his face, Harry fell asleep, knowing that it was time to buckle down and solve the puzzle that led to the next tasks in the Merlin forsaken tournament.


	4. Luna's Rebellion Part 3

Part 3

Harry's council, as the girls had taken to calling themselves, had grown from just Hermione and Luna, to now include Su Li, Daphne Greengrass, Tracey Davis, Susan Bones, Hannah Abbot, Angelina Johnson, Katie Bell, Alicia Spinnet, Sally Anne Perks, Neville Longbottom (at Hannah and Harry's insistence since Harry felt he needed at least one mate) and unofficially Professors Vector and Babbling. They met in an abandoned classroom down the hall from the charms classroom, and they soon had it outfitted for training Harry in the skills that the group decided he needed for surviving the tournament and life in general. Each of the women brought their own specialties to the table and they were amazed at how fast Harry picked up the practical aspects of magic, forcing them to reach deep into their own knowledge to continue challenging him and making him grow in his magical repertoire.

It was into one of the strategy sessions a few weeks before the second task that Harry burst in the door, slightly out of breath, and shouted. "We have a big problem. I can't swim!"

"Harry, calm down and take a few breaths." Once Harry seemed to have gotten control of himself, Hermione encouraged him to talk to them. "Now tell us why that should concern you."

"The next task is going to be in the Black Lake, and they are going to take something I will miss more than anything and put it at the bottom of the Lake for me to retrieve. The problem is, I can't swim, heck, I can't even take a bath without feeling a bit of panic."

"Why is that Harry? I don't think I have ever seen you panic about any danger, so why should water scare you?" Alicia asked.

Harry all of a sudden became rather shy, and mumbled under his breath that no one understood.

"What was that Harry?" Daphne said as she stared at this Harry that was not the confident young man she had come to know.

Harry began to look around in a panic, getting ready to bolt from the room, when he was hugged first from the left by Luna, and then the right by Hermione. It was Luna who spoke. "Harry, it is time you told your friends the truth about your life and why you have the fears you do. We are here for you and I promise that none of us will pity you for your experiences. We may feel sad for what you had to live through and want to help you work past it, but we are your friends and will not look down on you for what you reveal."

Harry's shoulders sagged, and then he allowed Luna and Hermione to lead him to a couch, where he sat and told his story with his two friends on either side of him. He told of his cupboard, not knowing his name, being a slave, test dummy, and punching bag to his relatives, and of the starvation and abuse. When asked about the fear he had for swimming, he looked scared before he finally told them the truth.

"I am pretty sure that I have died at least three times while trying to swim." The gasps of everyone when he said that almost made him stop, but the two holding onto him gave him the courage to go on. "The first time was at the community pool when aunt Petunia took Dudley and me to learn to swim when we were six. Dudley and his friend Piers pushed me head first into the side of the pool, and then when I was dazed, they pushed me under and used me as a step so they didn't have to tread water. When it was finally noticed by anyone, I had been under for more than fifteen minutes. Dudley and Piers told everyone I had gone under after telling them I could hold my breath for a long time. The ambulance was called, and I was taken to Hospital where they were going to pronounce me dead, when I began to cough up lungs full of water and then I began to breath. When my uncle brought me home from Hospital, he beat me for not dying like a normal person and instead showing my freakish ways, and then he threw me into my cupboard with no food for three days." It appeared that everyone in the room wanted to say something about his vile relatives, but the looks that Luna and Hermione gave to them stopped them from interrupting Harry's story.

"The second time was silly really. Uncle Vernon sent me out into a thunderstorm to divert water from forming puddles in my aunt's garden. I remember creating unobtrusive little waterways that fit into the artistic esthetic of the garden, and I was quite proud of the way they had turned out. I went to the other side of the house, intending to continue with my work, when a flash of light lit up everything around me and I knew no more. When I woke up, I was in hospital again, only this time, I was nowhere near home. I was pulled out of a lake about four hours North of Surrey by people on a boat that was heading to shore before the storm hit. They tried to revive me, but they kept getting shocked when they touched me. I don't remember how I got to that lake, and I don't remember how I got back to Privet Drive after staying in hospital for almost a week. All I know is I went to sleep in the bed in the room I had been placed in, and the next time I woke, I was back in my cupboard and ignored for almost a week."

"The last time was the summer after my first year at Hogwarts. I had been moved out of my cupboard, and into Dudley's second bedroom, or the room of broken toys as I liked to call it and everything was going fine until one of the neighbors decided to invite all of the kids in the neighborhood to go to a water park for their daughter's birthday. They were new to the neighborhood, and so they thought that it would be a good way for their little girl to make new friends. They insisted that all of the kids go, and that included me since they had seen me gardening in my aunt's prize winning garden, and I had helped them carry in packages to decorate their new home. We went to the water park, and I stuck to the shallow pools most of the day, trying to learn how to swim. When I felt confident enough, I got a float and went cruising around on the lazy river that drifted around the park. It was coming around a corner where the river was partially sucked into giant tanks to power the slides and wave pool that I somehow got pulled off my float and dragged under, getting trapped against the grate by the water. I remember trying to get anyone's attention as the water pressed down on me, but they were always just out of reach and slowly everything went black."

"When I woke up, I was in the back of an ambulance with a sheet covering my face, and I listened as a young woman sobbed as she described how they had shut the pumps down for the night and were turning off the lights to the park when someone noticed my body floating on the surface of the lazy river. Emergency dispatch was called immediately, but they could not revive me no matter what they tried. When we got to hospital, I found myself frozen as I was wheeled down a hall and out another set of doors. I heard someone say my name, and I thought it was Dumbledore, then I once again woke up in my bed, this time with bars on the window and locks on the door, with a cat flap that my food was passed through until Fred, George, and Ron came to rescue me in their Dad's car."

All of those present, including Neville who was sitting silently behind Hannah, were horrified at the trials that Harry had gone through in his short life. If anyone had looked around, they would have found that all of those present were fighting back tears as they realized that Harry would not be comfortable feeling that everyone pitied him.

It was quiet, soft spoken, kindly, unassuming Neville who blew his top and destroyed the silence that had blanketed the room like a rough, itchy woolen blanket. "How dare they write all those stories about the fabulous life of Harry Potter The-Boy-Who-Lived and present them as truth. Every child in the magical world has been read stories about your supposed adventures, and the training that you have received since your parents died, and we now find out that they are utter bullshit! Sorry for my language, Hannah, but for the last three years, everyone in this castle, and in the greater British Wizarding world, has held you to a standard that you had no hope of meeting. Every time we have tried to approach you, Ronald I am The Best Mate of THE BOY WHO LIVED Weasley has blocked us and has informed us that if you wanted us as friends, you would have answered the letters we sent you as kids or the ones we sent you over the summers between school years."

"You...you sent me letters?" Harry asked in confusion. "I have only ever received letters from Ron, Hermione, and Mrs. Weasley, and only Hermione writes with any frequency. Well, I did receive a letter from the Ministry of Magic warning me about underage magic use, but that was done by a house elf, not me."

By now, Neville was standing, and the normally mild mannered Gryffindor was so angry that waves of magic were pouring off of him and making everyone's hair stand on end. With a look of absolute resolve upon his face, Neville drew his wand and said, "I, Neville Franklin Longbottom, heir of the Longbottom Clan, and future head of House Longbottom, hereby pledge my loyalty as tradition and honor dictate to House Potter and it's last heir in the form of Harry James Potter, Lord and Protector of the Law of Wizarding Britain and all of her Provinces and Protectorates as decreed by Royal Charter in 1644, so mote it be." Neville then dropped to his knee and bowed his head before Harry.

Harry had no idea what was going on, but he knew he needed to stand and acknowledge what Neville had just proclaimed. When he stood, he felt a weight appear on his left side at waist level, and when he looked down he found the sword of Gryffindor strapped to his waist. He held the scabbard with his left hand and drew the sword with his right hand, immediately almost dropping it when a ring appeared on his right ring finger. It was only the flood of information that seemed to flow directly in his mind, and the magic of the sword which was among other things, enchanted to never fall from the hand wielding it. Harry stood straight and true, placing the blade upon the top of Neville's head, then tapping the left and then right shoulder while he intoned in a voice that contained more than just Harry. "The Realm judges you honorable Lord Longbottom, and accepts your pledge of loyalty in this time and in the future time of change that is coming."

Everyone looked shocked at the fact that Harry and Neville were both wearing the rings that denoted them the Head of House for their families. It was Luna who broke the tableau when she squealed and clapped excitedly, before jumping around and yelling.

"This is going to be so much fun. The geezers who are hurting our world will never know what hit them." Luna shifted gears so quickly that it left everyone gaping when she got an evil grin on her face and said to everyone. "Gather round people, it is time to plan the downfall of the meddler, as well as senior psycho and his junior psycho bunch, and the rebuilding of our world from the harm they have done to it." Everyone thought her idea was a good one; it was her periodic bouts of maniacal giggling, and evil laughter that gave them all pause at the future they were planning. They all drew the line when she purposed Death to the evil overlords by fluffy, cuddly bunnies as their battle cry, it actually seemed a little too menacing the way she said it.

The day of the second task had arrived, and Harry no longer feared water or the upcoming task. Harry's council, by taking a suggestion of Neville's about how Hannah had helped him overcome his fear of flying by giving him good memories on a broom and adapting it to help Harry, had spent the last three weeks curing Harry of his hydrophobia bit by incremental bit. It started first in the prefect's bathroom with Hermione and Susan in bathing suits, holding him up in the water while he learned the different strokes of swimming. Each girl, excluding Hannah who wanted Neville to see her like that first, wanted their turn in helping Harry accumulate good memories of his time in water, and Hermione had to write home for more suits after the pureblood girls saw hers. After he began paying more attention to the girls and their suits instead of the water in the bath, they arranged with the help of Professor McGonagall, to transfigure a lap pool, and then used Runes to build a current that he could swim against, always with at least one partner right by his side. Again, when Harry got comfortable, they expanded the pool to fit the entire group and many free hours were spent playing in the water with Harry and Neville constantly blushing as the girls surrounded them in bathing suits that Hermione had her mother provide.

Now standing before the Black Lake, wand in hand and plan in the front of his mind, Harry had no fear of the water before him, only of failing to get to his best friend before time ran out. Harry had arrived at the shore long before anyone else in his nervousness, and began pacing back and for like a caged cat wanting to run free. His thoughts were filled with what he would do to the organizers of the stupid farce he was forced to participate in including his headmaster, if his Hermione had anything happen to her. He was working himself into a nervous wreck when several sets of hands grabbed him and began dragging him away from the lake and toward a tent set behind the spectator stands. He was about to fight off whoever had grabbed him, when he recognized the girl now looking him in the eyes as he continued to be forced away from the lake.

"Harry, you need to calm down and focus or you will be no use when the task begins in a bit over an hour and a quarter." Luna admonished him. "Take a deep breath and then relax. We have a cot set up for you to rest on, and once you have relaxed, there are something's that you need to know that you and I will discuss before it is time for you to leave."

Harry was a bit surprised when he was dragged through the tent which looked like the hospital wing of the castle into a second room of the tent that was set up like a lounge with sofas and pillows spread out around one cot which he was placed upon. He tried to sit up and look around, but two sets of hands held him down, while another peeled off his robe leaving him only in his shorts and t-shirt. Before he could protest, the two sets of hands began to kneed and rub the tension out of his muscles, causing blood flow to increase and getting him loose for the first time since Hermione had left the common room with Professor McGonagall the night before. Harry really wasn't sure how long he lay there, but he found that his eyes had closed when Luna started talking to him and he had to open them to see her.

"Harry, I need you to listen to me very carefully about the upcoming task. When you get to the hostages, you will need to rescue not only Hermione, but Fleur's hostage as well. Fleur's hostage is her little sister, and both Fleur and Gabrielle are Veela, which was not taken into account when they picked her to be Fleur's hostage. While the spell they were placed under is designed to keep them asleep until their head breaks the surface of the water, on a Veela who is a creature of fire and not meant to be in water, the spell will break before the hour is over. If you do not bring her with you when you get Hermione, then she will drown before anyone can rescue her." Luna grabbed Harry's chin and made him focus on her face. "Harry, promise me that you will get only Hermione and Gabrielle and get back to the surface and the judges stand as quickly as possible. I know that you will want to stay and make sure everyone is safe, but only Gabrielle will be in any real danger down there. Promise me Harry, it is important."

Harry looked deep into Luna's silvery gray eyes, searching for confirmation of what she told him, and seeing what he was searching for, he nodded and said, "I promise Luna, there and back as quick as possible. If you say that they are the only two in danger, than who am I to argue with the mysterious knower of truth and guide of my path? Besides, it would take someone completely daft to ignore you after all the times you and Hermione have steered me right."

Luna gave Harry a bright smile and quickly gave Harry a peck on the cheek for luck, before pulling a hat out of her bag that was almost bigger than she was. Harry stared at his unusual friend as she held what looked like a hat made out of a real lions head.

"Luna, what is that?"

"This is my friend Encyclopedia. Daddy and I found him hurt in the jungles of Em Buri Buri in the dark heart of Africa, and the only way to save him was to carry him to the nearest witch doctor and Daddy and I agreed that it was not right to transfigure to something that did not show his noble character, especially with the Crooning Zapanamarbats around. Those creatures would soon have told the entire jungle about Encyclopedia's disgrace and then no one would fear him. Daddy wanted to make him invisible, but I thought that he would get more respect if he could still let his kingdom know that he was alive and well, so daddy and I made him a hat. When we found the witch doctor a month later, Encyclopedia decided he liked me and the fact that I fed him Nargles and Blibbering Humdingers whenever I found them, so he decided to stay as he was after Dr. Vercombo healed him up. I just got him by owl post yesterday from my father so he could help me cheer for the Gryffindor Champion, I hope you aren't offended."

"Luna, I am the only champion from Gryffindor."

"Oh, that is wonderful news Harry; I was worried that you wouldn't like us cheering for the competition instead of you." Luna then gave him another peck on the cheek before she put on her lion hat and made her way to the stands. Harry was left behind, his face holding a bemused look that was often seen on people who Luna talked to after she left, at least those who had a sense of humor. Luna was happy that she was able to distract Harry from his nerves, allowing him to loosen up so he would do well in the task before him.

It came as almost a shock to Harry when the other champions arrived for the task, and everything was a blur until his mind was cleared by the blast of a cannon, signaling the start of the task and the hour time limit. Harry watched as the three older champions jumped in the water, all of them using spells that Harry knew were seventh year at least. He stood there on the edge of the lake gathering his focus and his magic around him like he had been taught by his friends. Energy began to crackle along the surface of his skin as he prepared to follow the plan his advisors had mapped out for him, when a grating voice broke his concentration.

"Stupid Potty has no idea what to do. What's the matter scarhead, can't you swim? Poor stupid mudblood is at the bottom of the lake waiting for you to rescue her, not knowing that you will never get her and she will die under the black waves." Draco's words and the laughter of the Slytherins cut into Harry's heart, but instead of making him doubt himself, they made him even more determined.

Harry was angry. He was angry at Draco, angry at the tournament, angry at the people in charge, angry at his life at his relatives house, and angry at the stupidity of the person that put his Hermione was at the bottom of this God forsaken lake in the middle of February in Scotland in wintertime. Harry gained his focus back quickly, fueled by his rage, and as he let his magic out, it seemed as if something broke in him that was holding him back and Harry knew that he would succeed.

Harry pointed his wand of to the side of the lake, where a log was floating amongst some reeds. He didn't so much cast a spell as he released his magic, willing it to do what he wanted, and the log was soon skimming across the water to him and coming to rest in the water's edge. Harry concentrated on the runes that had been drilled into his head by his friends, as well as the shape that the log needed to be transfigured into. The log soon was hallowed out, with runes appearing down the top as it flattened out and took the form of a bench seat. What no one could see was the rune clusters that formed on the inside of the hallow log, with the control and power runes that went up through the front, into the handle bars that the former tree grew for Harry to grab. When Harry was done, what floated before him was still a log only by the fact that it was made out of wood and was sort of rounded on the sides, the result of what Harry did had more than one person in the crowd wanting to try out the thing they dubbed Harry's toy if it worked as good as it looked.

Harry quickly pulled off his robe to reveal that he was wearing a full body suit of black with his name emblazoned on the back. It was only the muggleborn and raised among the crowd that realized that Harry was wearing a wetsuit that would help keep him warm in the lake. The crowd now watched silently as Harry walked into the water and then straddled his creation. He laid his hand on a plate of runes behind the steering handles, and soon everyone heard a low thrum that was really more felt than heard by ear. The unusual craft turned slowly, orientating toward the center of the lake, and it was not noticed by many that the back was now perfectly aligned with the judges' stand and the part of the stands that held Draco Malfoy and his house of snakes. If anyone had been paying attention, they would have seen that Daphne and Tracey were sitting well in the back, and had subtly raised a shield in front of themselves, and the strange girl wearing the lion on her head from Ravenclaw.

Harry seemed to waiting for a signal, and it came less than ten minutes after the start of the task when a mighty lion's roar sounded from behind the Slytherin section, making everyone including the judges, turn and look up in the stands at where it came from. While everyone had turned away, Harry reached for the handles, and activated the controls that he and his friends had modified from his precious Firebolt. A surge of power went through his craft, and for a moment, it seemed that the front of the hollow craft was sucking in all the water around the front. With a roar of its own, Harry's craft leaped forward carrying him across the water; while behind him a massive rooster tail of near freezing, Scottish lake water arched up and then came down upon the distracted judges and the entirety of the Slytherin house.

Harry screamed in joy as he flew across the water on his way to his destination. This was almost as good as flying his Firebolt, and he was definitely keeping this after the task was done, though he wasn't sure how he was going to use it during his stay at Durskaban Prison in the summer. He was so focused on the experience of speed and fun that he forgot to pay attention where he was and he soon realized that he had passed the place he had been heading for. Backing off the power, Harry turned his craft around and headed back to the place that the rune screen was indicating Hermione was being held. When he reached the spot, he slowed until he was drifting, and then he implemented the next phase of the plan by once again placing his hand on the rune screen in the console in front of him.

Back in the spectator stands, the two who considered themselves the clown princes of Hogwarts, were using their omnoculars that Harry had bought for them at the Quidditch World Cup during the summer, to keep an eye on their friend and teammate. "Gred, I do believe our little Harry is about to do something impossible again. You might want to stop watching the Slytherin girls trying to get themselves warm and their white uniform shirts dry."

"My dear brother Forge. How dare you imply that I am watching the girl snakes and their pointy dual temperature gages for my own amusement? I am doing it for our bottom line. After all, we did not spend the last few months charming these omnoculars to record longer just for our own amusement. With the ideas that little Harry has passed our way, we can add zoom, slow-motion, and biographical features to our vision crystals. I was thinking we could sell the crystals of this under the title 'Slytherin Girls Gone Crazy - Wild Wet and Wacky Highland Winter White Shirt contest, I think that will be a very good seller."

"Gred, my intelligent brother, the ideas you are having today are spectacular. Makes me wonder why I am considered the more intelligent and handsome twin."

"I thought I was the intelligent twin."

"I guess that would make me the handsome twin who has the way with the ladies. Oh look at that, Harry's suit is lighting up around the chest and neck, remind me to show you this later, preferably while you are sharing your vision footage with me."

The two red haired pranksters were right, Harry's suit had lit up with runic symbols around his neck, chest, and though they couldn't see it, there were runes on his back as well. A shimmering globe formed around Harry's head and once it was fully formed, Harry gunned the power again, whipping his craft around in a circle, building up some waves. When he decided they were big enough, Harry turned into the biggest one and launched himself and his craft in the air, before angling nose first into the water and vanishing under the waves in a violent blast of water.

Underwater, Harry kept his eyes moving between looking at what was in front of him, and the direction that the arrow on the rune screen pointed that would lead him to Hermione. When he felt he was approaching his destination, he eased back on the throttle and focused on his environment. He seemed to be on the outskirts of a sunken village that looked like it had been built during the heyday of Roman conquest. The buildings were made from hewn stone and there where streets lined with cobblestones that bisected each other at precise intervals. It was while getting his bearings that Harry heard the singing coming from the direction that the road headed. Since the arrow also pointed in that direction, Harry figured that he would follow the road toward the village center.

Coming up over a rise in the lake bed, Harry found the village square laid out before him with a statue dominating the center of the village center. Tied to it, Harry saw that besides Hermione and Cho, who he knew, there was a little girl who looked like Fleur, and the upper year girl who had attended the Yule ball with Krum. In his rush to get to Hermione, Harry gunned the throttle and sped toward his friend. If he had looked behind him, he would have seen a group of six warriors that had been following him get tossed and turned about in the jet wash of his craft. He was eagerly approaching where Hermione was tethered, when a large merman wearing a crown, swam in front of him and put out his hand in the universal symbol to stop. It was only by luck that Harry did not hit him as he frantically threw it in reverse to arrest his momentum. When he came to a stop, Harry was a little upset but thought that this might just be part of the task so he kept his temper in check.

It was but a moment before the chief of the underwater village spoke. "Hoo-man, what is this water dragon that you ride? The growls that it made as it ate the very water before it made our young go hide under their kelp beds. I do not know of how you tamed it hoo-man, but I must know that it will not harm my people once you leave the lake."

Harry kept a straight face as he listened, thinking that this was the same way that people had first reacted to horseless carriages in the muggle world. He realized that he needed to hurry, when he saw the little girl's eyes begin to flutter and her body begin to twitch as the spell protecting her began to fade. "Great chief, I mean no disrespect to you or your people, nor do mean them harm, but I must rescue two of the hostages immediately before harm falls to one of them. If you would indulge me, I will take them to shore and safety, and then I will endeavor to return at a later time to show you what my craft does. Know this though, my water dragon as you called it is mine, and does what I command it to. No harm will come to any of your people, unless they try to harm me or mine, on this I give my word."

"I will take your word hoo-man, and I will look forward to visiting with you when you come back. You have been tasked with rescuing only one of the others down here, but I see that there is trouble with the young fire creature, and I fear that if I do not let you take her, her harm will bring about another long war between those of the water and those of the fire. Go with my blessing and return when you can, you will be welcomed here in my village for your help in avoiding a disastrous war."

"Thank you sir," Harry said. "I will return as soon as I can."

Harry maneuvered himself to where Hermione floated first, cutting her tether and pulling her to the seat behind him, though leaving enough room to put the little Veela between them. It took but a moment to get her where he wanted, and then he turned to rescue Gabriele, only for his eyes to meet the wide open, panicked gaze of a little girl who was drowning. Harry desperately grabbed her tether so he could cut her free, and in his hurry, made a fatal mistake as he dropped the blade he needed to cut the vine. Harry began to panic as the little girl thrashed in front of him, knowing that he was going to fail in the quest Luna had given him. In his desperation, he pulled the underwater vine to his mouth, trying to gnaw through it with his teeth though he knew it was hopeless. It was in the midst of this that a golden trident appeared in front of his eyes and with a precise thrust, the Chief cut through the vine which allowed Harry to pull the girl down behind him where the sticking charm could grab her and affix her to the seat behind Harry. At the same time, the runes on Harry's wetsuit lit up and a bubble of air began to form that encompassed the heads of his two passengers.

Not waiting to see if the girl or Hermione were alright, Harry aimed his craft at the surface and accelerated at the best speed he could attain underwater. He was desperate to get back to the shore and have Madame Pomphrey check the health of his passengers. It took less than a minute for him to once again break the surface, and everyone in the stands who was staring out at the lake in boredom and disappointment after the excitement of the first task, and Harry's start in this one, got to see a spectacular sight. Harry had no intention of slowing down once he reached the surface, and so when he was about twenty feet from the surface, he deactivated the runes that allowed travel underwater through surface tension and negative buoyancy, and turned the drive into surface mode which increased his available speed. By the time they were only a couple feet below to surface, the mode of travel had shifted, allowing him full power once again.

What the people saw from the shore was the center of the lake dropping down in a cone, as if the whirlpool Charybdis had moved from the Mediterranean to the Scottish Highlands was beginning to pull the lake into its ravenous maw. Out of the center of the forming whirlpool, Harry Potter shot out and into the air, flying as if it were a large broom for at least thirty yards before coming down in a splash and became a blur as it sped toward the shore and the stands. It took almost no time at all for Harry to speed his way across the lake, and just before he could crash headlong into the shore, Harry yanked the handles around and stopped his momentum with a full throttle shift the other way. This of course, had the results of once again causing a large wave of water to crest up and soak the judges and Slytherins in freezing cold water once again.

"Mr. Potter." Professor McGonagall's voice rang out as she and Madame Pomphrey made their way toward Harry and his two passengers. "Why do you have Ms. Delacour's hostage along with your own?"

"Because I could not leave her there to die, Professor." Harry said rather curtly.

A blonde woman, who looked to be Fleur's older sister, stood from the crowd of students from Beauxbatons and screamed out as she made her way toward them. "What is th' meaning of this vous vieux batard ridee (you old wrinkled bastard). You assured me that she would be safe in your care and you saviez ce que vous faisiez you vieil imbecile senial (knew what you were doing, you senile old imbecile).

Poppy had grabbed Gabriele and was rushing her to the medical tent to check her out, while McGonagall was trying to get Hermione and Harry to go along as well. It was the sudden appearance of Luna who was urgently talking to Harry and Hermione in hushed tones that was keeping them from exiting the water and following their head of house.

"Harry, you have done well and need to place your foot on shore to complete the task but stay on your craft." Harry did as Luna instructed while Hermione scrambled up onto the shore. "Okay, now I need you to go back and give the chief a ride around under the lake, coming back this way since he will need to talk to the judges about Gabriele and you're having to save her. Make sure you watch out for Grindylows though, they can be quite bad in numbers."

Harry nodded to Luna and her hat Encyclopedia, and then gave Hermione a hug, whispering in her ear. "I am glad you are safe and okay, I am not sure what I would do if I lost you. Please stay safe and I will be back soon." With that, he turned the throttle of his craft to low so he wouldn't spray her, and then headed out to the center of the lake at a more leisurely pace than before.

When he felt he was near enough to the center, he set the controls for underwater, and since he never turned off the breathing runes, he was able to tilt up and then submerge smoothly, angling his way back to the village. When he arrived back in the square, it was to find that the other two hostages were still there waiting for their rescue and he was tempted to take them back as well. It was only Luna's voice in his memory telling him that those two would be fine that stayed his hand. Harry turned away from them when he saw the chief approaching where he was floating.

"Back so soon young hoo-man. I did not expect you back until after your contest was done."

"A dear friend of mine, who is also one of my advisers, recommended that I come and give you a ride around the lake before taking you to the shore so you can tell them about what almost happened to the young girl who you said was a fire creature. Oh, and by the way, please call me Harry."

"That sounds like a grand idea hoo-man Har-ray; I would be delighted to accompany you around my lake." The chief turned and barked orders to his warriors, which sort of reminded Harry of the time the BBC was showing a documentary about seals before Dudley changed the channel. The Chief came back to Harry, and surprised Harry when the tail of the merman chieftain split into two appendages, similar to legs and he straddled the seat behind Harry.

Harry didn't want to be rude, but he had to ask, if only so he could then give the information to Hermione later. "Sir, how did you turn your tail into a pair of legs? Is that part of your magic?"

"Well hoo-man Har-ray, since you have asked so respectfully, I find myself willing to answer. Most wiz-zard hoo-mans believe that we can only make legs a few times in our lives, and that it takes a special ritual. But," Here he waved one of his people closer, and then had them flip so their tail was along Harry and the Chief's right sides, "If you look closely at the structure of our tails, you will see that our tails are made of two separate parts that when together mess their scales to form one tail instead of two legs. Normally this would not be told to you, but the silver eyes from up above assured us that you were honorable and would not spread our secret without our permission."

"If it is alright sir, I would ask your permission to tell the one who was my hostage, since she is a voracious seeker of knowledge and my best friend." Harry pleaded.

"If Silver eyes says it is permissible, than you have permission to reveal it to your friends. Now, let's get going, I want to see what your water dragon can do."

The next ten minutes were filled with Harry treating his passenger to a ride very much like he would have if they were on his Firebolt in the air. Twists, turns, drops, bends, raises and reverses; Harry had decided to give the Chief a ride like no other, and based on the yelling of "Faster! Faster!" over and over from behind him, his plan seemed to work. Not knowing how long they had before the time limit ran out, but knowing it would be soon, Harry turned his craft toward the shore. They had only gone a few hundred yards, when they came upon a swarming pack of grindylows churning the waters down in a kelp bed. Harry began to rise toward the surface at the urging of the Chief, when he caught sight of a human hand in the gap between two of the swarming minor water demons.

Harry's instincts kicked in and he inverted his craft as he headed for the mass of undulating creatures, quickly formulating a plan as he descended. When he was less than ten feet above the mass, he set the runic cluster that Hermione had dubbed the ultra-brake, and all motion in any direction stopped, the craft holding as if some celestial being had tacked it in place on a presentation board. When he was sure they were no going to move, Harry turned his craft to full throttle. At first the frenzy of grindylows did not notice anything different or dangerous about the thing above them, but then the water started to move and by then it was too late for any of them to escape what was happening.

Harry's water dragon, being made out of a hallow log and using runes to repel the water in the direction desired at whatever speed the driver wanted with no moving parts, was really a giant water cannon when it was simplified down to its basic function. The front of the hallow log/craft sucked in the water, and then it was accelerated out the back at high velocity. The first thing that indicated to the grindylows that they might be in danger was when one of the smaller scouts separated from the mass on top and then vanished.

On shore in the audience, one of the bored first years who was sweeping the top of the lake to see if his hero Harry Potter was going to do anything else exciting was the first to see the surface of the lake bubbling up. It reminded him of the summer before when he and his cousin were playing in a kiddy pool trying to stay cool and playing with the hose which they put under water and made it become a fountain. At first the surface of the Black Lake just bubbled, and then it began to spout, shooting higher and higher as more current came from below. Andrew's shouts called attention to what was happening, and soon the whole crowd was watching, though many of the Gryffindors were giggling about the fact that the smarter Slytherins had put up shields to protect themselves from whatever Potter was going to try next.

They didn't have to wait long before the first grindylow came popping out of the water with a very surprised look on its ugly little face. Soon, more and more of the ugly little water demons were shooting out of the water in greater and greater arcs. It was after the seventh one that the Weasley twins began holding up signs that rated the artistic flair of the flying creatures, as well as the size of the splash when they came down. It was not long before everyone in the crowd was cheering each time a new set of the ugly little things came out of the water. Those paying close attention began to notice that the creatures were getting closer and closer to the shore. Suddenly, like the grand finale of a fireworks display, a large group came flying out of the water as if being shot rapid fire from a cannon. Every eye tracked the creatures as they flew up in the highest arc yet, but in all the entertainment of the moment, no one adjusted their shields. Slytherins were known for sticking up for their house in the face of all outside opposition, but when it came to internal cooperation and friendship, it was usually only their own personal inner circle of friends that most in the house would defend. That was why, as the now quite angry little water demons came falling out of the sky toward the stands where the Slytherins sat, no one from the house took charge and had the house present a unified shield.

In ones and twos, then threes and fours, the irritated little creatures who had been robbed of the meal they thought they would have, came pouring down on the stands. The first two to arrive bounced of the shields of the judges and fell back into the water. The next set cleared those shields and hit the shields of the front row of Slytherins, bouncing of them and landing on the backs of Dumbledore, Karkarov, Bagman and Percy Weasley, where they quickly began scrambling around for a place to hide, each of them finding the neck holes convenient for entering the robes of the unwilling hosts they landed on. The Headmistress of Beauxbatons was the only one spared from this ignominy since she was sitting to the side and lower, and had cast an egg shaped shield to protect herself.

By now the entirety of all three schools were laughing at the antics of the now jumping and dancing judges who were trying to get the vicious little buggers out of their robes. When the next two sets also bounced at the judges, the Slytherins in the stands figured that they were safe from the barrage, and then the finale came. Ten, twenty, fifty, one hundred, the rain of mini demons came down and row by row the Slytherins joined the crazy dance. The creatures were not all coming down on the Slytherins, but the Hufflepuffs on one side and the Ravenclaws on the other set their shields to protect their house, and if their shields happened to funnel the creatures back at the Slytherins who had tormented them at times, well that was just coincidence really. It was the sight of the head of Slytherin, Severus Snape fighting off at least a dozen grindylows that were trying to inhabit his robes, while two were doing their best to burrow under the protective layer of oil in his hair, all while he was screaming out "POTTER, detention for the rest of your time at Hogwarts," that the twins turned into a poster that sold to every current, and many former students who had been from houses other than the one that the poisonous potion master was the head of.

Meanwhile, down at the bottom of the lake, Harry was frantically pulling his fellow champion toward his water dragon as he decided to call the craft. He knew that once he got her there, then his suit would provide her the air she so desperately needed, but she was wrapped up in the kelp and he could not get her untangled. When the last of the grindylows had been sucked up and shot out of the back of his craft, Harry had immediately shut the runic engine down and then he dove off to try to save Fleur. It was only now that he wished that he had disabled the sticking charm that held the MerChief to the seat. It was a great surprise to him when the Chief appeared next to him with a shell shaped knife and began to cut the plants holding Fleur down. With the two of them working together, the barely struggling girl was soon freed and the Chief helped Harry guide her up to his craft which still hung where he had left it. Once he was on with the French champion behind him and getting a steady stream of oxygen, he disengaged the ultra-brake and began to slowly move with the current. He turned to look to see if the Chief had gotten back on the bench behind Fleur, but found that the Chief was now swimming beside him.

"Young Har-ray hoo-man, you have shown yourself to have a noble and true heart. I welcome you in my people's homes and village at any time you desire, and in a show of friendship and brotherhood, I give the right to call me Marcus, which few have earned the right. I will swim from here as we are not far from the shore and you need to get the fire girl out of the water so she can heal. If you so choose, I would be more than happy to have another ride on your water dragon if you bring it back, just remember that the growl does scare the children of my village."

"Thank you Marcus, I am honored by your gesture at giving me your name. Next time I come down, I hope to have conquered the growling by allowing it to be turned off for silent running. If it is alright, I would like to bring my friends and advisers down to see your wonderful village. I do believe that they will enjoy it immensely."

"You have my permission to bring anyone who Silver eyes says is okay. Until we meet again Har-ray hoo-man, may the great Proteus guide you and watch over you as you make your way through treacherous waters, watching over your current." Saying that, Marcus swam away, leaving Harry and Fleur alone.

Harry shook himself out of his contemplation at his new friend's words, realizing that he needed to get the hurt girl to shore. He turned to the surface once again and accelerated at a moderate pace since he could hear Fleur breathing steadily behind him. Once on the surface, Harry headed toward shore and his waiting friends. As he got closer, he saw that the other two champions had reached the shore with their hostages, and they were being cared for and wrapped in warm blankets by the Hogwarts healer. When he pulled up to the shore, he thought it strange that most of the stands that had contained the Slytherins where empty, and the judges, except for Madame Maxime, looked much the worse for wear as they glared at Harry as he approached. Figuring that he should get Fleur to the healer before he was yelled at by anyone, Harry turned away from the judges, and moved his craft over to where Madame Pomphrey and Fleur's mother were waiting for the two of them.


	5. Luna's Rebellion Part 4

Part 4

Later, when Harry had gathered his council, minus the indomitable Luna, together to hear about his adventures under the lake, it was to the amusement of everyone except for Harry when Hermione asked what Harry thought about his scores. The look of absolute befuddlement on Harry's face sent the entire room into gales of laughter.

"Harry, you just competed in a task where you not only saved two hostages in under thirty five minutes, but then you went back and saved one of your fellow champions from what she believed was certain death." Professor Vector was looking at Harry like he was some odd mathematical theorem that was eluding her understanding. "Not only did you score a perfect score, once the Ministers of Magic from Bulgaria, England, and France spoke to the judges about judging fairly, but all three of them praised you for living up to the ideals of the tournament in encouraging better International cooperation. Your daring rescue of the Delecour sisters will be front page news all across the wizarding world."

"Great. More fame and publicity is not what I need." Harry said sullenly as he thought about the loss of his first friend due to the prat's jealousy. "With Rita Skeeter out there, I am sure that they will talking about my harem and the fact that several of the professors and seventh years are carrying my love children."

"Don't forget to include me in your group Harry." Luna interjected as she came through the door, setting off the group into gales of laughter. Luna turned back to the door and motioned to someone to come in, and then turned back to Harry.

"Harry, I would like to introduce you to Sam Fastbender of Wizard Travel Toys, the company that owns Firebolt Manufacturing Inc. He wants to buy the rights to build and market Harry Potter's Water Dragon, a water craft for the distinguishing Wizard. He believes that they will be the biggest things in wizarding leisure since the Monopod."

"Hello sir, very happy to meet you. If there is interest in my water dragon, then I believe that you should talk to my council, as they were the ones who helped me to develop it."

Hannah interrupted Harry. "Harry, it was your idea to build a water craft, and none of us would have had the power to do what you did like that, all at once. It would have taken us at least a month of painstakingly precise work to do what you did in less than five minutes. All we did was come up with refinements and alternate avenues to accomplish what you wanted it to do."

"Fine Hannah," Harry said and then he turned back to face Sam Fastbender. "Sir, if you are interested in purchasing the designs for my Water Dragon, then you will need to talk to Ms. Hermione Granger as my chief advisor, along with Ms. Daphne Greengrass as assistant to my legal counsel, and all of those present will be credited with being members of the design team and will be part of the new company Marauders Design LTD, which we will get registered as soon as possible in the magical and muggle world. Now if no one objects, I could really use a nap after the day I have had." Harry shook the visitor's hand, stifling a yawn, and then half asleep he went from female to female kissing their cheeks and telling thank you for the help before he went over to the corner where a cot appeared with a wave of his hand that he quickly collapsed on, instantly asleep.

Sam Fastbender and Neville just stared at where Harry was asleep, though for two very different reasons.

"He didn't use a wand. He just conjured up a full bed set for sleeping and he didn't even use a wand. Just how powerful is he?" Sam asked as he looked at the assembled group.

"He is more powerful than he realizes, and it would behoove you to make an oath that you will not reveal his secrets, at least if you want to walk out of here with a deal, and your memories intact." Susan Bones said to the corporate representative who saw that the way to the door was blocked by a professor and two of Harry's friends.

"It is very important that no one knows about his wandless abilities before he needs them." Luna told the man she had brought to meet TBWL. "It needs to be a surprise to the people who want to cause him harm."

After the man had made his vow, it was Hannah who brought everyone's attention to Neville. "Neville, sweetie, what's wrong? You haven't said a word in the last few minutes." Hannah knew that her boyfriend was usually the strong silent type, but standing still as if he had been petrified like Hermione in second year was beginning to concern the pretty Hufflepuff.

Neville muttered something under his breath that no one heard; his eyes still unfocussed in shock. A poke in his ribs by his girlfriend got his attention and he turned and looked at her in sudden recognition. Her look of questioning intensity and a demand for answers got him to speak up. "Harry Potter kissed me on my cheek and said thanks. How am I supposed to deal with that?" The entire room dissolved into fits of giggling and it was quite a while before they were calm enough to speak to the visitor about the details of putting Potter's Water Dragon into production as designed by Marauders Designs LTD, the company that would change the world as they knew it.

Harry stood facing the entrance to the maze that symbolized the beginning of the last task in the tournament, going over the instructions Luna had hammered into his head in the last two months.

-Flashback-

"Harry, no matter what else happens, you need to get to the cup as fast as you can and take it before anyone else can. It is a portkey to your destiny and what you have been training for all your life. If you have to save any of your fellow champions, then do it quickly, and use their wand to shoot up the red sparks as that symbolizes forfeit and you will be pulled from the maze if you use yours. Once you reach the grave yard, let yourself be captured by Wormtail so that he can raise old Baldywart into a new body. When he gets a body, he will summon his followers so he can show them how powerful he is by beating up a fourteen year old kid. Once his followers come to him then you are free to use the spells we worked on to disrupt his coming out party. You will have all of their attention, allowing help to arrive; just make sure that you keep snake face's attention and your friends will handle the rest."

-End Flashback-

Now it was time for him to face his destiny, all for the general amusement of the sheeple of the wizarding world. The other champions had gathered, and after the politicians got done with the speeches that proved that they loved the sounds of their own voices, the signal was given for Harry and Cedric to enter. Cedric took off like a shot, running into the maze and turning to the left, while Harry pulled out a stick from his pocket and began tracing a circle in the ground to the side of the foreboding break in the hedge. He was still at his drawing in the dirt when Victor was sent in, followed quickly by Fleur after she kissed his cheek for luck. Finally he was ready, pleased to see that his lines and runes where in perfect symmetry, and then Harry reached into the pocket of his robe while everyone in the crowd held their breath in anticipation of what Crazy Potter would do next.

It should be noted that after Harry Potter's performance in the first and second task, and the abysmal scores that were given the youngest champion by Karkaroff for what he said was cheating by using magical devices other than his wand; it was decided that each champion would be scanned to make sure they were not holding anything magical besides their wand. To further enforce this latest ruling that seemed aimed at making Harry's life difficult, the area of the maze and its entrance were warded against any summoning spells that would bring in outside objects for help. To make sure that Harry was not cheating, Percy 'I am Anal Retentive' Weasley brought in an Auror named John Dawlish to check the contestants, and he took great pride in jabbing his wand into Harry's back, stomach, and sides while he checked him for magical signatures. When they then forced him to empty his pockets, there were several sneers directed at Harry at the contents of his pockets.

"Look at baby Potter, having a muggle toy in his pocket so he could play with himself instead of competing like a man." Dawlish taunted, soon joined in laughter by some of the slower Slytherins, including Draco, who had not learned that bad things kept happening to those who messed with Harry Potter.

Out of Harry's pocket came a bright yellow toy about three inches high, four inches long, and three inches wide that had four wheels that seemed almost as big as the toy and the word Tonka in bold letters down each side. Harry gingerly made his way to the center of the circle, making sure not to smudge any of his lines, and carefully placed the Tonka in the center before making his way back out again. Once reaching the outside of the circle, Harry raised his wand above his head and began to weave the tip in a complex pattern, all while muttering under his breath. With a flash of light so blinding, that even the contestants already in the maze saw it, lightning flashed down from the sky and created a dome of energy over Harry's circle, hiding it from view. Harry continued his chant, and then finished by thrusting his wand at the dome, which turned black as if it were now sucking in all the light around it. A cracking sound, as if a giant bird were hatching from an egg, echoed out and around the school into the deepest reaches of the forbidden forest, and then a guttural roar as if the legions of hell had been unleashed, made many of the magicals in the crowd scream in fright and then stay perfectly still as the thing Harry brought forth was revealed.

The silence was broken when one of the muggleborn in the audience said, "Blimey, I always wanted to ride in one of those." To which several other muggle born nodded their heads in agreement. The magically raised in the crowd were keeping as still as they could lest the demon named Tonka that Harry had summoned take interest in them and turn it's growling fury upon them. What was frightening them was a bright yellow snarling monster that stood around twenty-five feet high, twenty-nine feet wide, and forty-seven feet long, with four tires that made Hagrid look small. Several people later swore that they heard Hagrid coo at the demon thing and mutter about how cute it was and how it was just misunderstood.

Harry quickly climbed up the steps that led to the cab up near the top, and with a manic grin he climbed through the door, slamming it closed behind him. The demon beast Tonka roared its pleasure several times and then with an earsplitting blast of the trumpets of Ragnarok, the monster leapt forward with a shrieking scream at the head of the maze.

The maze created for the final task was a thing of magical enchantment and beauty, utilizing the talents of herbologists, charms masters and enchanters, and even the results of Alchemical experimentation. It was made to resist the most powerful of magical blasts, having features such as self-healing vines, capture fields, tangle vines, and the ability to shift around to better hide the center which held the heart of all of its enchantments. It was for all intents and purposes a living creature that was aware that it would cease to exist when one of the puny two legged fleshy creatures was able to reach and take the object that anchored its existence in the plane it was in. The maze gloried in its changing of its internal pathways so that the two legs would be led to the traps and creatures that had been put inside its pathways to protect it from destruction. Sensing that one of the two legs was bent on attacking the other two legs, the maze opened up new paths to guide it to the fire two leg since that one was the most dangerous to the glorious maze.

The one thing that neither the creators of the maze, nor the maze itself had ever considered as a threat was the imagination of a boy who was raised in the muggle world and had once been left by his uncle on the edge of a quarry in the hopes that he would have a tragic accident. As a boy, Harry had sat at the edge of a sheer cliff all day watching the mighty giant machines as they moved thousands of tons of dirt and debris from one section to another in the deep quarry. He watched as one of the drivers drove his machine right through a brick structure that was no longer needed, the giant dump truck not even slowing as it went through the structure. This made an impression on little Harry about the invincibility of the mighty machines, and he figured that hedges and creatures would not stand a chance against one of those machines. He was most definitely, absolutely, undeniably right.

The maze screamed as the monster tore through its first few rows, with no signs of trouble or slowing. The maze forgot about the two legs as it focused its attention to the new threat, directing all of its protections and creatures to battle the new beast that was hurting it.

Between Fleur and Krum, a wall went up as the maze herded one of the acromantula through the area, allowing Fleur to make her escape from the obviously controlled Bulgarian. She didn't know exactly what it was that was making such fearsome sounds, but she felt it was best if she made her way in the opposite direction in the hopes she would not meet up with it. "Good luck, Harry." She whispered under her breath as she shot up red sparks from the wand in her shaking, spell damaged hand.

It was just seconds after the French champion's sparks shot up that the first beast met up with Tonka demon. Hagrid's Blast-ended Skrewts had led a rather Darwinian existence from their conception and creation, as on after another were killed until only the strongest and most vile of the creatures remained. That final abomination had been placed in the maze and had already killed a chimera and a manticore that had crossed its path, and it was searching for more living things to take out its rage and hate on. It felt the shaking of the ground and sensed the direction its next victim was approaching from, and it turned itself in preparation to attack. Up in the cab, Harry never noticed the left front tire of his ride roll over the abomination that Hagrid had bred, nor did he notice when its tail shot off into the air away from the tire it had briefly been attached to.

Over to the West, the fake Alastor Moody was holding Luna and Professor Vector at wand point since he had caught them trying to sneak up on him.

"What do you two think you are doing?"

Luna smiled and answered him while the Arithmancy Professor looked around for any way to escape. "We came over here to tie you up so that you couldn't interfere anymore with what is happening tonight."

"I am a Professor and I was assigned to patrol this side so that I could assist any of the champions who found themselves unable to go on with the task."

"Nope, that is a lie, Professor Moody, or should I say Barty Jr., you are here to make sure that Harry gets to your master."

"Well, well, well; little miss strange Ravenclaw knows more than she should. I guess that I will need to dispose of the two of you before I leave to join with my master." The fake Moody raised his wand but hesitated, feeling a little leery at the smile that Luna had on her face. "What is so amusing to you that you are smiling like that before you die?"

"Oh, well I was thinking about the facts about chaos theory as presented by Dr. Ian Malcolm." Seeing the puzzled look on the faces of the two adults, one who was about to kill her. She decided to continue. "Up in Northern Russia a gulping plimpy ate a horn-tongued snodgrass right before the snodgrass was eaten by a passing defiant bulbus fudd. The fudd travelled a few valleys over before it died because of the poison of the plimpy that was inside of the snodgrass. The fudd lay there for four days, its body becoming more and more bloated with gas, before an ice giant stepped on it, it making a giant farting sound. This sound echoed into the next valley where a herd of flatulent four toed fragrant fuchsia flappymingos heeded the call and all let loose the stored gas from their defense systems. That caused a disturbance in the atmosphere which caused a wind to shift slightly, which directly will lead to you and your master's downfall."

"You are one deranged little bint, aren't you. It is almost a mercy to put you down since you obviously have been contaminated by mudblood toxins."

Moody once again raised his wand to deal with the two of them when from behind him, the tail of the blast ended skrewt shot up out of the maze and toward the three of them. For a moment, it looked as if the projectile was going to go wide of them, but then a breeze blew past them that smelled slightly of things usually only found in the air of Grateful Dead concerts, shifting the trajectory of the flying tail until it came down with deadly accuracy right into the base of Fake Moody's skull, knocking him out. Luna quickly summoned the leg, flask, three backup wands, two portkeys, and the crazy magical eye from the imposter and putting them in a pouch on her belt that had space expansions, while Professor Vector cast a spell of her own creation on him that would ensure that he did not escape before they could get back. Once that was done, the two of them moved around the edge of the maze until they were hidden from any prying eyes and activated their portkeys to get into position to help Harry once he reached the graveyard in Little Hangleton.

In the maze, Harry was cursing as his windscreen wipers struggled to clean off the residue of four splatted acromantula that had jumped in front of his Tonka demon. It was only because of her instinct for survival, as well as the fact that she realized that anything big enough to shake the ground like that and tear through the hedge walls like they were slightly muggy air, was big enough not to be threatened by a sphinx and needed to be avoided, that kept the sphinx alive to ask riddles another day. Finally Harry reached the center of the maze, and there on a stone pillar was the cup which he knew would lead him to his final confrontation with Tommy boy. He slammed on the brakes, stopping just short of the cups destruction, and climbed down, carefully avoiding the many parts of the dismembered acromantula.

"What the bloody hell is that thing Harry?" Cedric asked as he came into the clearing having followed the path of destruction made by Harry and his Tonka.

"I vould like to know as well," Victor Krum said as he came around from the other side. "Someone cast the Imperious curse on me, and I was only able to fight it off when the roar of your demon here filled me with the adrenaline I needed to throw it off."

"That is my Tonka toy. It is the only toy that I had growing up, given to me by one of the neighbors who disliked my aunt and uncle, and I hid it deep in my cupboard to keep it safe from my relatives." Cedric and Victor looked stunned at Harry as they tried to imagine the behemoth before them as a toy given to a boy.

"It must be a muggle thing." Cedric said under his breath, which Victor heard and agreed with, neither of the pureblood boys having ever imagined or seen something like the machine now behind them.

"Vell Harry, take the cup so ve can get out of this merlin forsaken maze." Victor prompted the youngest champion. "It is you who got here first, and it is obvious that you are the one who deserves it. I am just glad this is over; it has been too close to bringing injury that could have ended my career many times. I wish that I had not entered my name at all, since it was obvious that the tournament was not as safe as I was led to believe."

"Okay, but don't be surprised about what happens when I do." Harry said to the two champions.

"What do you mean Harry? The organizers told us that once one of us touched the cup, the tournament would end. What else is going to happen?" Cedric was concerned that the boy he had gotten to know over the last year was right since it seemed that the luck that Harry had was not the luck you wanted and wished for.

"This whole thing was a trap made by a follower of old Voldywart to ensure that I was powerful and worthy enough to provide part of the ingredients for a ritual that would bring red eyes himself back to a body. The cup will take me to a graveyard where the ritual is to take place, and I can't get rid of the bastard permanently until he once more has a body."

"I vill go vith you!" Declared Victor Krum. "My family owes him for what he did to us before you beat him as a child."

"I am going as well Harry; you should not have to face him alone."

Harry looked at the two of them and realized that they were both determined to join him. He quickly came up with a way for them to help him with his part of Luna's plan.

"Listen closely, we have little time. Can either of you disillusion yourself? If not, then I can't let you go as they will kill you when we arrive, since they only need me for the ritual." Getting a nod of confirmation from the two of them, Harry continued to tell them of his plan for them. Once he was done and had made sure that they understood their part of the plan, he pulled out two daggers made from basilisk fang from a bag that had been hidden in a null space field in the cab of his Tonka. With a silent acknowledgement to the gravity of the task before them, the two disillusioned themselves, and then each put a hand on Harry's shoulders as he approached the cup. Right before he touched the portkey, he brought up his wand and cast a spell on the two men that Hermione had created that allowed them to see and identify any allies who were in the area, disillusioned or not; Hermione called it her IDFF spell. Once that was done, he reached out for the cup and felt the hook behind his navel feeling right before he and his fellow champions were whisked away.


	6. Luna's Rebellion Part 5

Part 5

Harry landed roughly, as he always did when travelling by magical means when it wasn't him controlling it. If anyone had been looking closely, they would have noticed that he was seemingly floating a foot above the ground when he fell before rolling over and jumping to his feet and looking around while placing his wand in the sleeve of his robe while pulling one out of his pocket. If wizards were at all logical, then anyone coming to capture Harry Potter would have grown suspicious that Harry had put his wand away and grabbed another while in an unknown situation, but the fact remained that logic was not one of the traits that most wizards were in possession of to any useful degree. Harry, having gone through the James Tiberious Kirk school of acting, looked around while saying things like "Well, (Dramatic Pause), this does not appear to look like Hogwarts." As well as, "Is this part of the task set before me that I must overcome to win for the honor of Hogwarts and Dumbledork." Anyone who wasn't right next to him would have assumed that he said Dumbledore; only the two who were rapidly moving away from him to complete the task that he had given them were in position to hear what he really said.

Finally, a figure approached out of the dark, carrying what looked like a baby, and Harry knew it was time for the finale to begin in the little drama between Harry Potter and the evil and delusional Tom Riddle and his musical DE's. Harry made a show of peering into the dark and asking who was there, and he was rewarded by a stunning spell hitting him in the chest and making him drop the wand in his hand, which was scooped up by Wormtail.

When Harry was revived, it was in time to see Peter starting the ritual that would give his master back a body so that he could continue on his quest to make the whole world pay because his mommy was an ugly bint who couldn't get a man who was not related without using potions, and his daddy was a muggle who abandoned him and his mummy before he was born. Harry tuned out the whole bone yada, yada, flesh of servant stupidity, and looked forward eagerly to the final stage of the ritual. When Wormtail came toward him with the knife and said the whole blood of an enemy, unwillingly given, Harry began his campaign to mess with the traitorous rat and his malformed master.

"Are you saying I am an enemy? I would say at most I am mildly annoyed with Tommy, leaning more toward indifference really."

"Don't be stupid Harry, I know you hate the Dark Lord and anyone in the house of Slytherin; I heard all of the tails of your confrontations with my master and the most noble house from your best friend Ron Weasley. This time however, Ron Weasley will not be here to save you like he did from my master, the troll, the basilisk, and the dementors. After my master rises, the first new recruit he will have will be Ron Weasley, since he is almost as powerful as my lord and only cares about himself and no one else." Peter stepped forward and dragged the dagger along the bottom of Harry's arm till blood covered the knife, then he made his way to the cauldron and dripped the blood in to complete the dark resurrection ritual. If he had looked back, he would have seen a look of complete incredulity on Harry's face as he mulled over Wormtail's belief that it was Ron who always saved the day.

A light came out of the cauldron as the contents turned a greenish yellow, and then magic pulsed in every direction, shattering the gravestone Harry was tied to and cracking the enormous cauldron, revealing the new body of Tom Riddle.

"Robe me Wormtail." Hissed the voice of the newly risen dark lord, but there was something different from what he expected.

Tom Riddle, even before he assumed the persona of the made up pureblood character of Lord Voldemort, was obsessed with elegance and dignity. As a young man, he went to see any plays or theatrics that involved the speech of upper crust aristocrats, spending hours perfecting his mannerisms and speech until they practically scream out to everyone that he was someone of importance and breeding. He played his part so well that the pureblood idiots fell all over themselves to kiss the hem of his robe since he was obviously of higher breeding than the most ancient of them all. The voice that came out of his new body had none of the nobility and class that he had worked so hard to perfect; instead, it was full of uncertainty, cluelessness, and an odd squeak here and there. Riddle turned to stare at Wormtail in annoyance about the fact that he hadn't been robed, and was met with the last thing he ever expected. Before him was his servant passed out, apparently from blood loss and shock at being in the presence of his resurrected master, and Harry Potter still tied to the grave stone grinning like a loon.

Deciding to deal with the insolent boy after he was clothed and had called his followers, Lord Voldemort picked up his wand from where it lay next to Wormtail and conjured a robe to cover his body. After he was satisfied with his preparations, he stopped the bleeding of his servant's stump and then pressed the tip of his wand against his brand on the other arm, forcing his will into the call that would bring all of his servants to where he was. Wormtail sat up screaming and cradling his arm as if it had been burned, while Lord Voldemort looked to the sky in anticipation of his triumphant return to power. He never noticed that the call he had sent out was much more powerful than he had intended.

-Flashback-

Luna handed a wand to Harry that felt familiar in his hand. "Harry, this is a special wand that I had great uncle Ollie make for me as part of my plan to help you. It appears to be the wand of Moldyshorts in every detail, and it will work for him as if it is his actual wand. When Peter is distracted, and before Old Snaky comes out of the stew, you need to perform a wandless switching spell so that the dork lord uses this wand instead of his. When he uses it to summon his junior psychos, you will feel a connection and you need to pour some of your magic down that connection so that his call is more powerful than he intends. This will help to bring all of his boot lickers to the graveyard and we will not have to hunt them down later. Once they have arrived there in the graveyard, old big head will talk about how great he is, how he beat death, and how he will reward those wow were faithful to him and his cause, and how his call is so powerful, that it brought all of his followers to him. While he is busy trying to convince his lemmings that he is more powerful than a little tiny baby or a brooding teenage boy, untie yourself and make sure you are ready to move when he turns his attention back to you. It may take a while for him to get to you because of the ones who arrive in terrible condition because the mark, along with your added magic, forced them through the wards meant to stop them from coming. Just remember Harry, you need to be just as much a showman as snake face, proving to him and everyone watching that you are his equal and are more than able to face him magic to magic. This is as much to put doubt into his mind as it is to convince his followers that they may have picked the wrong narfang to back in the race of rainbow quewpies."

-Flashback ends-

The quiet of the graveyard was shattered as one by one; the followers of the Dark Lord Voldemort appeared around him, kneeling before their master. Since Harry was the only one looking at Tommy's face, he was the only one who saw the flicker of surprise on the dark lord's face when his robed servants were joined by the emaciated and clearly insane followers who had moments before been guests of the ministry in the no star resort of Azkaban. The screams of joy and pain of Bellatrix LeStrange at seeing her master before her and feeling the broken bones and torn muscles that she had received when her master's call pulled her from her cell to be by his side broke the stunned dark lord from his surprise and he was soon ordering his followers to help the new arrivals. No one was paying attention to the boy tied to the grave stone, and that was just fine with Harry since it gave him time to arrange things more to his liking for the showdown he would soon have with his snake faced nemesis.

It took a while for everything to calm down, but when it had the next surprise came when Lucious Malfoy finally looked upon the face of his lord and was immediately pushed into a state of rapture. "My Lord, I knew that it was behind the genius that I saw on the muggle picture box. Only someone of your incomparable genius could make the muggles pay you for making them look so foolish while holding yourself to such a lofty place. I am truly awed at the genius of your ability to hide from the wizarding world while you regained your godlike powers and sense of comedic timing." Lucius finished on his knees, kissing the hem of the robe of his beloved master.

Lord Voldemort had no idea what the blond ponce was going on about, but he would not show any weakness in front of his slaves, so he dove into the mind of his moneyman. What he found gave him a raging headache as echoing throughout the mind of Lucious Malfoy was one word over and over, which had the effect of keeping the master Legilimencer from delving any deeper than the surface.

As Lord Voldemort withdrew from his mind, Lucious looked up into his master's eyes, a look of awe and love in his own eyes, and he made a request. "My master, if it pleases you, I would ask for a favor so that I may share your greatness with the world. I would ask if you would permit me, nay, permit all of us who know of your true power and genius, that is, if it is your will of course; may we call you... Lord Bean?"

Harry burst into uncontrolled giggles at the look of surprise on Moldyshort's face, and the look of utter devotion on the simpering blond poofter's face who was kneeling before him. He couldn't wait to show this memory to his friends, and he felt that it was worth the wrath of Hermione for bonding Dobby to him, since it was Dobby who had gotten Rowan Atkinson's blood for him from the celebrity blood drive. Luna had told him what arm Peter would take the blood from, and Harry had decided that he didn't want the snake faced bastard to have even one drop of his own blood in the mix. Now the resurrected dork lord looked at himself in a hastily conjured mirror and he was not pleased at what he saw there. His new body was shorter than his original, had a bulbous nose, elastic face that showed all of his thoughts and emotions in over dramatized detail, ears that spread from his head as if trying to grant him flight, and the trade mark red eyes of the most feared dark lord ever. The uncontrolled giggles of Harry brought the attention of the dork lord and his junior psychos to the apparently helpless boy who was tied to the grave stone where Wormtail had put him.

Knowing that he had to play the scene out for his followers, Voldemort stalked his way toward Harry. Even if his new body was far from the ideal that he pictured, it was still a body which he would use to strike fear into the hearts of his enemies, and later on, he would create one that would speak to all who saw it of the power and majesty of its owner.

"So, here we have the great Harry Potter, the one some call the chosen one, the boy who lived, the defeater of me." Lord Voldemort paused his diatribe to look back at his followers, the expressive face he now possessed showing them his disdain at any who would believe that a child could defeat the greatest dark lord in history. After he allowed his followers time to laugh nervously, he once again turned to face the boy who had become his nemesis. "Before this night is over, all of Britain, no, all of the world will know of the greatness of Lord Voldemort and the fact that death cannot stop me, let alone a small boy. Why are you smiling like an idiot, did the sight of your parents killer defeating death addle your brain, or is it the terror of facing the greatest dark lord in history without the Weasley boy to protect you that made you lose contact with your sanity?"

Harry couldn't hold in his laughter anymore and his laughter echoed through the graveyard, leading many of the death eaters to agree with their lord about Potter losing his mind. Harry finally got control of his laughter, and began to breathe in long deep breathes trying to keep his laughter in check. When he was sure that he had himself under control, he decided to answer the megalomaniac before him.

"Tommy, Tommy, Tommy; I am not sure why you don't remember what kind of student Ronald Bilius Weasley was when you taught us first year, but I am sure you remember what happened to you when you and I faced off at the end of my first year. I am guessing that Ron bragged to Scabbers about how essential he was to me defeating you in first year, defeating your shade and the basilisk in second year, the dementors in third, and he probably told your death nibblers at Hogwarts that he was behind the strategies that helped get me through the tasks in the Merlin forsaken tournament that your agent entered me in. I really would wish you luck with your conquest of the world with Ronald Weasley as your follower, but I don't see this going much past this evening. My friends have worked hard to convince me that for the good of the wider world, this dance between us needs to end tonight."

"You will address me as Lord Voldemort, you insolent whelp, I do not recognize that name anymore. You think that you are greater than the most feared Dark Lord in history boy? Perhaps my servant at Hogwarts was correct when he called you an arrogant, over-confident brat, who is full of his own fame and importance." Voldemort would have continued; if he was not interrupted by Harry laughing so hard, he fell to the ground, his bindings evaporating back into the ether where they came from.

Harry looked up and tried to speak, but every time he seemed in control, he would look at the dark lord's face and once more burst into uncontrollable laughter.

At first, Lord Voldemort was stunned at the lack of fear and respect his nemesis was showing him, while surrounded by all of his Death Eaters, but soon his patience wore thin.

"Crucio!" He cried out in a louder than normal voice, pushing his hate and annoyance into the spell so that the boy would know of his anger. A smile spread across his face as he watched his enemy shake and writhe about under the effects of his favorite spell, but his smile soon became a frown as he realized that the screams were missing from his victim. He ended his spell, listening for the whimpering and gasping for air that always followed a dose of the pain curse, but all he heard was the excited murmurs of his followers as they basked in delight at the fact that they would once more be able to act like gods to those whose blood was beneath them. Focusing himself on the kneeling boy, he finally heard the panting of breath he wanted, and a smile once again graced his rather frumpy new countenance.

"So boy, are you ready to meet your destiny at the wand of Lord Voldemort, or are you going to continue to defy me and put up a brave front, acting as if you were not afraid. Come Potter, stand up and take your wand so that you can face me in a duel and the world can see once and for all that you are nothing compared to me." Harry held up his hand, his index finger pointed up, signaling that he needed a moment to get his breathing under control, which the Dark Lord graciously gave him.

Once he was ready, Harry Potter stood up; his face flushed and tear tracks were on his cheeks. Now it is understandable that Tom Riddle aka Lord Voldemort thought that he had caused the tears and flushed features with his pain curse, since he had not been around anyone who was brought to tears by their laughter in at least 50 years, if ever. He would have been more apt to kill the one laughing, like he planned to do to Harry, than to try and understand the signs of laughter on the persons face. It was really too bad for the wizarding world that Tom was too busy having mummy and daddy issues, both biological and surrogate, to really have a good laugh; if he had, the world might have been a much better place. Unfortunately, the only laughter that Lord Voldemort knew and was capable of, was the sadistic and cruel laughter of a psychopath who enjoys the pain he causes by pulling the wings off of flies and seeing the misery and pain it caused. If he had ever experienced true joy, he would have been a bit more wary of the boy who had defeated him once before and not as confident as he was at the end result of the confrontation. Now it was time to end this confrontation and move on with his destiny of making the world pay for his daddy leaving his mummy before he was born, and Dumbledore never showing him the affection and approval that he craved deep in his heart.

"It is time Harry Potter, the end of your life will signify to the entire world that I have returned and nothing can stop me from taking my place as ruler over the entire world. Someone wake up Wormtail and get Harry's wand for him so that we may duel."

Before any of his followers could make a move, Harry spoke. "No need Tom, I have my wand already, and would prefer that none of your butt buddies touch my wand. Well, I might not be to upset if Bellatrix there touched my wand, but only after she had a shower and a few courses of nutrient potions to bring her back to her youthful self, but I definitely don't want Lucy to come near my wand; there is just no way of knowing where he has been." Harry smirked as he looked around, happy to see that his comments took old Voldy's mind off the fact that he had his wand when it was supposed to be held by Wormtail.

"Enough of your insolence boy," Voldemort hissed as he shot a bludgeoning curse which hit Harry in his gut, intending to knock the wind from him. If Harry was like most people in the wizarding world, using magic for everything and eating the fatty foods that were traditionally served at Hogwarts and in the wizarding worlds pubs, the curse would have almost totally incapacitated him; once again though it was proven that Harry Potter was no ordinary wizard. Yes he bent over and acted winded, but when you are a teenage boy who for most of the last year had the motivation of getting in the best shape possible so you could stay a couple of steps back from the swaying derrieres of a French Veela, a Slytherin Ice Queen, a Hufflepuff goddess, a Ravenclaw pocket rocket and a svelt seer, and a brainy but very curvy Gryffindor bookworm who ran because her formerly military dad had instilled in her a love of personal fitness; well let us just say that Harry had been very motivated to be in the best shape of his life.

"Stand up Potter; it is time for us to duel. You have been taught to duel, haven't you Harry Potter?"

"Why does it matter if I know how to duel Tommy? It is not like you will follow the protocols of standard dueling, especially once you are losing. I am sure you want me to bow to you and show you respect as my opponent, but I really don't feel as if you deserve any respect at all."

A curse flew at Harry from the side as Bellatrix Lestrange grabbed the wand of one of her fellow death eaters and fired at Harry as she screamed her displeasure at the disrespect he was showing to her master. Harry sidestepped, allowing the curse to pass by and strike the unfortunate death eater Yaxley who was standing opposite the deranged witch. Yaxley screamed out his pain as his body began to eat itself, melting his internal structure until he was just a disgusting pile of goo.

"Wow, that was a nasty curse there cousin. I don't think I have even heard of that one, it must be one of the Black family spells that Sirius told me about. Better save your energy as from what Sirius told me, firing those twice in a row without rest can damage your core. I wouldn't want you to miss me getting my comeuppance from Tommy boy. That would just be tragic cousin, don't you think?"

Bellatrix was about to cast again when her master called her off. "You are becoming a nuisance to me Harry, you have interrupted me as I was trying to greet my returning family; though some of them have much to answer for, they are still mine." Bellatrix was staring at her master with adoration as he called her family, and he paused to stroke her face before continuing his diatribe.

"I will be facing Potter alone, I do not need anyone's help to beat this insolent boy and I will end any who dare interfere again. Now Harry, bow to me since I am your death and to death you must always show respect." With a sadistic laugh, Voldemort pointed his wand at Harry and forced him to bow low, while he dipped his head in as little movement as was acceptable. He released the pressure on Harry, allowing him to once again stand straight and tall.

Once again Harry burst into laughter. "Wow, you are so full of yourself. I wonder; if I hit you with a piercing curse, would you explode and cover us all in bullshite? You made up an anagram Tommy that means flight from death. You don't show respect for death, you fear it and have spent your entire adult life running from it and trying to beat it. Well Tommy boy, I think it is time for us to begin our dance, and I think we might see who really respects death after all." With that said, Harry shouted begin and the battle between the two titans began.

Voldemort shot out a string of spells, starting with a reducto, and flowing through to the cruciatus. He could have sent out the killing curse over and over, but he wanted Harry Potter to suffer for the years he had gone without a body. It was a fearsome display of spell knowledge and mastery, and it would have taken down the fourth year student, if he had still been where the spells were aimed.

While Voldywart was firing his first spell, Harry was moving quickly to find cover, as well as making cover for later protection. While being trained up, along with Fleur, by Luna and others for the tournament, Harry had noticed that Fleur could cast air and fire spells with her hands without the need of her wand. When he asked her about it, she told him that Veela were creatures of Elements of Air and Fire, and so Veela were trained to call to those elements using their magic. Harry became obsessed with learning to channel his magic into his hands and feet to control the four elements of the natural world. He began to grasp the connection that was there between all facets of nature, magic, and life around the time of the second task, but was by no means a master since it took most of his power to get the smallest result.

It was two months before the final task, that a conversation with Hagrid triggered the path in Harry's mind that led him toward mastering the magic of the elements. Hagrid said that it was too bad that wizards used their own magic to do spells, and so did not need to feel the damage they did to their environment. When Harry asked what he meant, Hagrid said that while wizards used the magic in their core to do magic, the centaurs, elves, and goblins all used the connection they had with the world around them to do their magic. It was with a new determination that Harry set to first feel and then strengthen his connection with the natural magic that was all around him in every facet of the natural world. By the time the third and final task arrived, Harry had become very adept at calling the power of the elements themselves to create structures and walls with earth, gale force winds with air, spears of ice and waves of water, and fireballs and other fire effects, all without draining his own core.

Harry called upon his hard won, Harry hunting skills as he dodged and zigzagged away from the psycho who was once again trying to kill him. Behind him grew a maze of walls and obstacles that formed out of earth and water, before hardening by air and fire. While that was going on behind him, Harry was busy waving his wand through a complicated set of runic forms that once completed, hid him from sight, both physical sight and mage sight. Once hidden, Harry pulled a package from a hidden pocket in his cloak, and with a grin, tossed the basketball sized disillusioned object toward the biggest concentration of death eaters. He had asked Luna, and the devil twins Gred and Forge what the package was, but they would just smile at him and tell him it was a secret. Harry really wished he could sit and watch what the three of them had come up with, but it was time for him to draw their attention by taking on Moldyshorts head on.

"Tom, hey Tommy. Time out for a moment, I have a question for you that I have been wanting to ask you since first year."

"I have warned you before, I am Lord Voldemort, master of death, but I suppose I can answer one question for you before you die. After all, it is customary to grant one last request to a dying man. Ask me your question but make it quick, I have much to do after I ensure your demise."

"Well, you see, well this is kind of embarrassing to ask you, but well... When you were Quirrell-mort, and I mean this with the utmost respect and curiosity, but how did you get the taste out of your mouth when he farted practically in your face?"

Lord Voldemort let out a scream of almost primal rage as he began casting spell after spell, trying to hit the insolent boy who had gone too far.

"Hey Morty, you really should learn to have a sense of humor about yourself, otherwise you might drive yourself into poor health, or even a possible stroke if your blood pressure keeps climbing." Harry continued to move as quickly as possible from cover to cover while he taunted Riddle, making sure that the megalomaniacal psychopath focused on him and not what was happening around them.

"You insolent little brat, I will make you beg for mercy like your unworthy father and your slut of a mudblood mother. I will hunt down and torture your friends for a thousand years before I grant them the mercy of death at my hand. Your sluts will be forced to bear the children of my faithful, and the children will be taught to revile the name of Harry Potter as the foolish mortal who dared to try and stand before their god." Voldemort was so angry that spittle was dribbling down his chin from his vociferous speech. He was now so focused upon the annoying teen that he did not notice as his followers where disappearing back into the darkness as if grabbed by a monster's hand, to be quickly replaced by others in what appeared to be death eater robes. In less than five seconds, the branded followers of Lord Voldemort had been replaced by the allies of Harry Potter and it was time for the dark wanker to meet with his fate.


	7. Luna's Rebellion Part 6

Part 6

Harry stood up from behind the grave marker he was using as a shield. "Wow Tom, I would ask if you kissed your mom with those lips, but well, you don't have a mom so I guess it is all right for you. I would take offence at what you said about my parents, but then again, my mother wasn't so ugly and inbred that she had to either marry her brother or potion a muggle squire to love her blindly, the operative part being blind." Harry noticed that his opponent was speechless with rage and so he continued while moving himself into the proper position needed to succeed in the end game that Luna and his advisors had planned for this night.

"I am sure that you know as well as I do that this can only end badly for one of us, and I am sure that a certain manipulative old fool wants us to duel each other in a righteous until we are both almost spent before you kill me, and then he will step forward and defeat you, thereby establishing himself as greater than even Merlin; but really, why should he get anything from either of us since it was him who caused us to be who we are. There are some things you should know before we fight Tom, so I would appreciate if you would hear me out before we commence to the battle royale."

"I am listening Potter, but do not expect my mercy or patience to last, the only reason I am allowing you to speak is because I am curious as to what Dumbledore's golden boy has to say about his mentor."

"Well Tom, it all goes back to two prophecies, one you know about as it was partially passed on to you by Severus Snape; the other being given before you were even potion ingredients in your mother's cauldron. The one you know is thought to be about you and me and if true, means that it will be either you or me as one of us is destined to kill the other."

"You say that as if you believe that the prophecy is not about the two of us. Do you know the whole prophecy or is all of this prattle just mere speculation?"

"I will get to that in a minute Tom, but first I want to tell you about a prophecy that was given to two young men who were the best of friends, so close in fact that they often shared the same bed to 'keep warm,' if you get my meaning Tom. One day, the two of them were planning their path to world domination, all for the greater good of course, when the younger sister of one of them went into a trance and began to speak in a voice unlike her own. She was a special girl born from a long line of seers and having been adopted by the wizard's parents when her own were killed in a tragic fire, and not having any known family in the area."

"Her prophecy went as follows;

Two will come who believe that the world should be theirs,

One determined to rule by force, one to rule through control,

Both will be dark, though one will cloak himself in light, and both will pursue power,

The world will pay in blood; the dreams of the two will war,

But only one will come to victory, for in time will come others,

One who will challenge all in hate, the other will survive with love.

Many years will pass before the world can one day be balanced,

The ruler will fall by the cunning of the chimera and his fold,

And the world will enter a new age like no other before."

"Now, the thing you have to understand Tom is that the little girl who gave the prophecy was born from the direct line of descent from the Oracle of Delphi and it was not the first prophecy she had given, though they had been hidden from her adoptive brothers. The two young men who heard the prophecy given each felt that they were the hero of the prophecy, and they wanted to keep her near in case she made more prophecies so they could use them to their advantage. They began to argue with each other about who would take her, and their tempers flared as the argument became more heated. It was only when the other brother came in that violence erupted and the young seer was killed in the ensuing fight. After the fight, the two young men split their paths and the world moved on."

Harry paused for a moment to lock gazes with the evil Rowan Atkinson look-alike to make sure he had his attention before continuing with his tale. "Many years later, a seer from a lesser family made a small prophecy while trying to acquire a job and the dark wizard who cloaked himself in false light saw it as his opportunity to make fate turn out his way. He erased her memory, and then sent her to a tavern to be interviewed again where the prophecy could be overheard. Unfortunately for everyone involved, the meddlesome drama queen couldn't leave well enough alone, and so he Imperioused the young seer to spout a heavily modified prophecy with certain embellishments he added to help himself in his quest to rule all. He made sure that one of your followers was there outside the door to hear the false prophecy, but his brother caught the eavesdropper and threw him out before he heard it all. The spy went running back to you with his information, and soon after that, the rat was sent to you to join your ranks so that you would attack the family that the old manipulator wanted you to."

"I am no one's puppet, boy; I am the most feared Dark Lord in history. Your story is interesting, but I think you are telling it to me to buy yourself time to work out a way to escape from meeting your fate at the end of my wand. Enough of this Harry Potter, it is time for you to die."

"Okay Tommy, I tried to tell you what was going on, but I guess being Baby-mort for so long, you haven't got the temper tantrums out of your system."

Lord Voldemort's face became red with rage, and he screamed out his curse at the insolent boy before him. "Avada Kedavra!"

Harry watched the curse fly toward him, a smile on his lips until just before he was struck by the green light. Dropping his right shoulder back as he bent his knees allowed the acid green curse to fly past him into an area clear of any of the robed figures that surrounded them. If any had been paying close attention, they would have noticed the distortion of light behind Harry, which held someone disillusioned and waiting for their moment to come. The curse struck the hidden figure dead center, and to everyone's shock, it was the figure of Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore that hit the ground with no life in his eyes. It was even more shocking for Lord Voldemort when a shade rose from the body and began to curse at himself and Harry Potter.

"You couldn't just follow the plan and die like a good little sacrifice, could you Potter. Years of planning and manipulation ruined because of the hormones of a teenage boy. Tom was always such a good boy, following the path I set him on without fail, but Harry Potter just had to do things his way, and now I will have to have you killed and start all over."

"I am no one's puppet, old man. Everything I have done has been by my own design. I became so great that not even you, the defeater of Grindelwald, could beat me in battle." Riddle screamed like a guilty school boy.

"Tom my boy, use the intelligence you have to think for once. When you were in school, who do you think arranged for you to get all that extra tutoring about magic, politics, and the wizarding world? Who do you think put the books about methods of immortality on that little hidden bookcase you found in the Slytherin study room? Who made the head of Slytherin answer your questions about making horcruxes by blackmailing him about his activities with first, second, and third year boys? All of the elicit knowledge you gained at Hogwarts, and all the old family libraries that opened to you after were all by my command. I needed you to scare the populace so they would allow me to shape them in the way I wanted. It was my design from the first moment we met that led you down the path to being a dark lord. Face it Tom, in all that matters, I am your father and the one who has guided you through every step of your life."

Tom Marvolo Riddle, aka Lord Voldemort, was stunned speechless at the revelations that he had just heard, and his prodigious intellect was busy going over his entire life step by step and realizing that it had all been a lie. He had never been in control of his own destiny, and the scope of the manipulations that he had been a mere piece of was staggering in their grandeur and ambition. His thoughts were interrupted by the disembodied spirit who had been for all intents and purposes his master for most of his life.

"It is time for you to finish this Tom, and then I will tell you how to remove the knowledge of tonight from the minds of your followers using your brand. Kill Harry Potter and I will reveal to you magic that you never even dreamed of in all your travels and quests for power." By now the spirit form of Dumbledore had moved over and was hovering in the air next to his puppet, waiting for him to play his part in the next stage of his grand design.

With a shrug of acceptance, Tom Riddle turned to do the old man's bidding and end the Line of Potter once and for all, only Harry Potter, last of the Ancient and Noble line of Potter, was not intending to let either of the evil beings get away with their plans for global domination.

If Dumbledore had still had a face to wear the enchanted spectacles he was notorious for, he would have seen that streams of magic were pouring in from every direction and charging the runes of the warded ritual circle that Harry now stood in the middle of.

-Flashback-

Last Hogsmeade Weekend before the Final Task

"Luna, are you sure that this is where I have to stand for the plan to come about to completion?" Asked Harry as he stood in the open without any type of cover nearby.

"Harry, you have to trust in Luna and her plan, we all do." Hermione stated; having become one of Luna's biggest supporters after the young seer Ravenclaw had led her to a hidden library that had once been the personal library of the warrior mage Godric Gryffindor.

"If you want everything to end the way it should, then you will have to stand here and let old Baldyfarts fire a killing curse at you, without firing back. Just make sure to drop your right shoulder back and down and you will be fine. The death eaters will all have been snagged by our runic snatch stones while you taunt Tommy, and those loyal to you will be in their place. Once the curse goes by, you will need to activate the runic array and the power draws for the ritual."

"Luna, what happens if the draws don't work?"

"Well, you might have enough power on your own to activate the ritual, but it will leave you as a squib at best, and most likely dead at worst." Luna said with no more inflection than if she had told him about the weather. Harry decided to make sure he had the sequence for the ritual perfected by the time he was fated to be here in the graveyard.

-End Flashback-

Tom Riddle, the newly revealed puppet, fired a killing curse at the boy standing completely still in front of him, only to be stunned once again when the curse seemed to swirl around him before being absorbed into his body. Determined to break through whatever protection Potter had and kill him, Riddle began to fire off every curse he could think of, all to no avail. Every dark curse imaginable flew at the young man, and the only effect on him was that his eyes began to actually glow green with the power he was absorbing. By now the dark spirit of Albus Dumbledore was screaming in his ear to destroy the impudent brat before them, whipping Tom to greater and greater feats of magic, all with no more effect than a lumos.

A wind sprang up that surrounded the grave yard, going from sporadic gusts to ravening howling storm intent on ripping the flesh from any who would brave it. Magic began to crackle in the air, like the static build up before a lightning strike, pulses going outward from Harry in tune with the beat of his heart, destroying gravestones and markers as they fed the wild magic surrounding them.

"Stop giving him power," screamed the shade of Dumbledore. "If he gets too powerful, we will both have to start over, as both of us will need followers to give us a new body."

"What should I do? I have sent every draining spell and curse at him, and he just absorbs the magic and the power around him becomes greater." Voldemort questioned as he watched the whelp become as powerful as a god.

Before Albus could answer, Harry began to whistle, click, and chant in a language not heard on earth in several millenniums outside of a few families known for ritualistic magic. Some scholars would have said he was speaking in Oromo or Amharic, but they would have been wrong since what he was speaking was the pure language of the divine as spoken to man by the Creator at the origin of life. As the chant grew louder, the magic began to solidify, freezing all in place be they embodied or disembodied, and collecting in coronas of power around each soul there.

With a scream, Tom Riddle arched back as if in great pain and a piece of him came racing into him from a shack a few hundred yards away. He kept screaming as one by one his anchors gave up their fragments and the magic called them to join with their owner in an attempt to make him whole.

If Albus Dumbledore had been in possession of a body at that moment, he would have been smirking at the knowledge that his soul containers were contained within runic circles of their own, and so he believed that he was safe from what Harry was doing to his puppet Tom. He was supremely confident that he would survive this moment to rise even greater than before, at least until he noticed that a piece of his soul was now floating next to him in the graveyard and another was just coming into the trap from the North, passing within feet of Harry Potter. Now, his only hope was that the magic surrounding them would not be able to bring the body with his last soul piece here to this place of judgment.

When Lord Voldemort had attacked Harry's parents that fateful night, it had been with the intention of making Harry his sixth horcrux, which the magic would keep in stasis for the time when his body was destroyed or just ran out of time. It was a ritual that had been created and used successfully by Albus Dumbledore using a first year muggleborn to make sure he would never be without a body. Using blood rituals, he had made his living horcrux into an exact clone without the aging that could wear the body out. When Voldemort's spell backfired on him because Harry's core was greater than his with the boost his mother's sacrifice had given him, the process was incomplete and failed.

It terrified the two dark lords when Harry's chanting began to raise in volume, his song and melody joined by the song of the newly freed phoenix, Spiral, who Dumbledore had enslaved and renamed Fawkes as a joke. The phoenix flew in an ever tightening circle, before flashing out in a pillar of fire, only to appear moments later with the clone of Dumbledore clutched in his talons. The clone and last horcrux of Albus Dumbledore, dark lord who masked himself as light, opened its eyes and began to scream as it and the other pieces of Dumbledore's soul were forced into one whole.

As one, the death eaters who were surrounding the three pawns of destiny threw off their robes to reveal the fact that they were all supporters of Harry Potter and began to chant their parts of the ritual that now had trapped the two dark souls. Faster and faster the chant progressed, rising in volume and force in harmony with the voice of Harry and Spiral. Albus and Tom could only look on in hopelessness and fear as Spiral landed on Harry's shoulders and began to glow with a white flame that spread until it surrounded Harry as well. As the crescendo of the melody was reached, Harry and Spiral threw their heads back in an unheard scream, the magic of the chant turning the two into something not seen since the heady days following shortly after the creation of the world, when beings with the power of the divine walked the earth among men; a being of purifying flame and flesh, called upon to judge the souls of men.

Eyes that shown with the purifying light of a thousand suns turned to focus on the two dark lords, the gaze peering deep into their souls revealing all of the darkness within them. With a deep voice that seemed to be filled with the voices of a heavenly throng, the being before them spoke.

"ALBUS PERCIVAL WULFRIC BRIAN DUMBLEDORE, TOM MARVOLLO RIDDLE, YOU HAVE BEEN JUDGED AND BEEN FOUND WANTING." Power rolled over them in waves as the being spoke to the two. "Your pursuit of power and your greed have led you down a path that only leads to the further blackening of your hearts."

The voice emanating from the being that Spiral and Harry had formed was like a chorus from heaven to those who were from the side of the light, uplifting and empowering to those with a clean soul. To those who were on the side of the darkness, their souls stained with the blood of the innocents that they had caused the demise of, they heard a voice straight out of the deepest pits of hell, making their blood chill in fear and the faces and fears of their victims flashing before their eyes. The pause in their judge's invocation did not free them from reliving their crimes, but only made it more intense as there was nothing else for either of the dark lords to focus on.

"You, the self-styled Lord of the Light Albus too many names and titles Dumbledore, you have been found guilty of harming the innocents in your pursuit of what you claimed was the greater good. Oh wait, there is another who needs to be here as well, your friend and lover who you sacrificed Nicholas and Prenelle Flamell so that he could hide from the world while you accomplished your goals."

Harry lifted his glowing eyes to the sky and raised his hand. "GELLERT GRINDELWALD, I SUMMON YOU TO BE JUDGED!" A beam of light shot to the sky and then flashed to the north, revealing to those watching that the dark lord behind the atrocities in World War 2 was neither dead, nor in the prison in Germany that he was rumored to have been placed in by Dumbledore. Moments later a man came flying into the graveyard, along with two soul pieces that joined with him as he landed next to Dumbledore.

"Now that the three of you are here, it is time to face your judgment. Gellert, you are responsible for the murder of hundreds of thousands of magical beings, along with millions of mundane in the war and death camps you helped initiate and establish, along with your best friend and lover Albus. It was only when it was obvious that with the American's entering the war, both magical and mundane, that your side was going to lose and your idea of pureblood Wizard Rule through force was going to fail, that the two of you came up with the idea of your epic battle to end the war, so that Albus could try to manipulate everything from the side of the light. It really was a brilliant plan, bringing your lover back and getting him a job by replacing the one who had the position so that the two of you could manipulate the next generation into the sheep you wanted, grabbing the most talented over the years and making them look up to you or owe you favors. When the two of you came up with your plans to make another dark lord to give the people something to fear, the blood he spilled became part of your true legacy to this world."

The new man fought through whatever power was holding him, trying to get a word in. "My legacy and the legacy of Albus are for the good of the world as a whole. Look at what the muggles are doing to each other and the world in general. They are polluting their own world with their machines, technology, war, and especially the idea that they are dominant on this world. Their greatest achievements and their greatest accomplishments were when they followed us as the gods we are compared them. It is said in their own academia that when the gods walked among men, guiding them in their endeavors, there was peace across the known world."

"So you claim to be a god, knowing that you are mortal and are held to the standard of the infinite by the maker himself. Your arrogance is astounding, even at your judgment; you still claim that you have the right to rule over your fellow man. It is time for you to learn that the only reason you were put on this earth, was for the betterment of your fellow beings. Your task in life is to leave the world a better place than when you came into the world, and all three of you have failed."

Now it was Tom who broke the silence. "Harry, I am as much a victim as you are here. It was Dumbledore who set me on the path my life took from the day he came to get me at the orphanage and learned that I could talk to snakes. It was the two of them that taught me about Slytherin, about dark magic, about rituals, and about the chamber of secrets. Just like he did you, Dumbledore shaped me from the moment I entered the magical world, manipulating everything about my life until I was able to escape him. It is not my fault that I became a dark lord; that is what they created me to be, just like they made you a weapon to defeat me because you were as powerful as me, even before you were born. You frightened them and so they came up with a prophecy to get me to kill you and your parents. I wish it had been different, but I was following the path that was set before me by their plans."

The being that was Harry and Spiral combined looked at Tom, and it seemed for a moment as if time stood still as Harry's eyes focused on the eyes of Tom and looked deep into his soul. Tom met Harry's gaze as long as he could, but he soon broke down into sobs as his inner-depths were bared of all the lies he had used to excuse himself for what he had done, but it was all a self-deluding lie. He had eagerly jumped into the darkness with his headmaster and then his head of house. He was one of the few students who realized when Horace Slughorn was replaced, and who the imposter really was. He was overjoyed at the new access he had to some of the darkest of magics both in the form of books in Dumbledore's private library, and also through the man posing as his head of house. He was always motivated to learn and be the best, but now he became a sponge, learning all that the two dark lords would teach him, doing everything they asked in the hope that they would see him as their apprentice and eventual successor. It was after he graduated, that he realized that the two of them had no intention of sharing their power with him; he was just the boogey man, there to frighten the sheep so they would be begged by the people to take over and allow them to rule the wizarding world.

He had made his first horcrux with the death of Myrtle by Slytherin's basilisk under the direction of Dumbledore, but his second was made in secret when he killed his biological father in his final year during winter break. After leaving Hogwarts, he went to work at Borgin and Burkes at the urging of his two mentors, using his position to search for certain artifacts that were needed in ancient rituals for gaining power. It was when he found the Locket of Slytherin and the Cup of Hufflepuff that he decided to pursue his own path. He framed the elf of Hepziba Smith for killing her, took the founder's relics from her home, and disappeared from England for the next decade. When he came back, it was to become the monster that Dumbledore and Grindelwald wanted him to portray, but he was most definitely not acting.

Lord Voldemort became the boogey man of Europe, raising his fame and reputation to the level of Rasputin, Baba Yaga, and even Morgana, to the point of causing people to even fear speaking his name. He gathered together the purebloods by giving them an enemy, playing on their fears of the muggleborn changing their society and taking their power away from them. In truth, Lord Voldemort cared little for the agenda he preached, it was all about power just as his mentors had taught him. The rituals he had spent years finding made him more than a match for the great Albus Dumbledore and he was one step away from conquering England and taking it away from the two hidden dark lords. Then one of his followers heard a prophecy about the one who would have the power to defeat him, and the rest they say was history. Now here he stood before the one who had defeated him as a small child, and once again Tom Marvolo Riddle knew that he would be defeated by his foe.

In a moment of clarity and regret, Tom realized that all his schemes, his underhanded dealings, and his pursuit for power and immortality at the cost of anything and everything that could stand in his way; it all meant nothing in the grand scheme of things. With a sigh and a shudder, Tom spoke to his judge, jury, and executioner.

"Harry, I know I do not deserve mercy, and I am not asking for it after what I have done to you, and to the world as a whole, but if it is okay, I do have one request before you judge me." It was a shock to all those watching, both Harry's group and the bound and petrified Death Eaters, to see that the once proud dark lord was sincere in his acceptance of his judgment.

"What is it you wish, Tom Riddle?" Spiral/Harry asked in that weird oscillating tone he spoke with.

"I only ask that the two men who helped mold me into the monster I have become be judged before me that my soul might know that they came to justice as I move on to my punishment for all the pain I have caused."

Spiral/Harry stared into the eyes, and through them, the soul of Riddle, and found what he was looking for. "Tom Riddle, in your moment of judgment you have shown true remorse for your actions. While this does not absolve you of your crimes, I will do as you request so that in this area alone, you will have peace."

Spiral/Harry then turned and summoned the two other men before him. A bright white light seemed to expand out from his core, surrounding the two dark lords and enveloping them in brightness. In that light, the two could be seen writhing and screaming silently in pain as the light revealed the darkness in their souls. "Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Gellert Grindelwald aka Horace Slughorn, You have been judged for your actions, and you have been found bereft of the goodness that the maker placed in you. You have willfully chosen to squander the gifts given to you so you could help your fellow man, and instead you used those gifts to pursue dominance over those you felt beneath you." Spiral paused to let his words sink in, and those observing saw the tears stream down the two evil old men's cheeks as their short comings were revealed to them without the ability to lie to themselves about their decisions being for the greater good.

Spiral/Harry continued. "It is with a heavy heart that I sentence you, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, and you, Gellert Grindelwald, to the eternity your actions have earned you." Spiral flashed between the two former dark lords, placing a hand on the top of each of their heads, and their screams grew as divine fire sprang from the ground and consumed them, the fire covering them from their feet up, but not allowing either of the evil men to be consumed until it had reached their heads. Their screaming finally ended when they were pillars of refining fire, their bodies turned to ash and their souls pulled into eternity. The silence that followed seemed deafening in its totality.

Spiral/Harry then turned to Riddle. "Tom Marvolo Riddle, you have been judged and found wanting in the eyes of magic and the maker. You could have been a beacon of light to the entire world, leading magical and mundane into a brighter future full of hope and destiny. Instead, you chose to follow the whims of two evil men, and the path they drew for you. See for yourself, all that you gave up in your pursuit of personal power and control." Tom was then subjected to a vision at the prompting of his supernatural judge.

He saw his time at the orphanage before Dumbledore came to get him for Hogwarts. He saw that he had friends and had always helped all who asked. He encouraged the other children to behave so that they could find loving families, and he humbly told the head of the orphanage that he would not be adopted until all the other orphans had good homes. It was in his last years there, when the kindly old couple who had run the place had to retire for health reasons that things took a turn for the worst. The new head did not care about the children; he only cared about stealing money from the funds given him to care for the kids. Tom began to take things from the director and sell or trade them to feed the other kids, and he continued to get the younger children to go to families who would love them. It came time that he was left with older kids that the new director brought in to bolster his numbers, kids who were part of the infamous London youth gangs; allowing them to use the orphanage as their base of operations. Tom began to display his magic as it protected him from the worst of the new abusers, and he began to think that making people fear him was the only way he would be given respect.

It was a complete surprise to the newly eleven year old Tom, when an old man named Dumbledore showed up the day before he intended to run away and told him about magic. Tom had spent months planning, and had gathered things that he could sell or trade for food and with a wave of a stick, the old man had set his treasure on fire, as a lesson of course. Tom decided he would go with the old man and learn all he could about magic so that no one could make him feel helpless again. It was at this point that the vision deviated from the way his life had progressed.

At Hogwarts, Tom Riddle had been sorted into Hufflepuff, because he insisted that that was the house he belonged in to the hat, even though the hat wanted him in Ravenclaw or Slytherin. By his second year, he was friends with people in all houses, and had become one of the leaders of Hufflepuff. He excelled at his studies, and was constantly seen helping others to be the best they could, gaining his the respect of all. When his potions professor was replaced by a doppelganger that shone with darkness in Tom's newly developing mage sight, he began to investigate. When he gathered enough information on the new Headmaster/war hero Dumbledore and his friend 'Horace Slughorn,' he went to see Lords Potter, Longbottom, Bones, Greengrass, and Weasley, all warriors of the light, and he presented his evidence. It took two years of investigation, but the day came when over a thousand Aurors from all over Europe descended on Hogsmeade, where Albus Dumbledore and his good friend Horace were having lunch, and they attempted to arrest the two dark lords. Dumbledore and Grindelwald fought with a fury none had seen, and the casualties were staggering.

It was Tom who had reached out to the squib brother of one of his friends for help in case things went really bad. Tom and Lord Potter and Longbottom had hunted down the horcruxes of the two men with the help of the goblins, and that day was the day for the two dark lords to die. The fighting had made its way all the way to the gates of Hogwarts, and once past the gate, they would not be able to defeat Dumbledore since he controlled the wards. It was as all hope was lost, that the bushes around the gates revealed that they were in fact mundane OSS officers, who without warning, opened fire with heavy machine gun fire which tore through the two former dark lords, ending their reign of evil.

The magical world was stunned that the so called leader of the light was in fact a dark lord in league with his companion, Gellert Grindelwald, and had intended to rule the world, all for the greater good of themselves. It was a week later that the court of King George VI called Tom Riddle before him and knighted him for his service to king and country. There he met Elizabeth, who a few years later would become Queen, and soon became one of her advisors on the magical world. It was in the 1960's that the queens chamber began to search for ways to bring the two worlds back together. It was determined that the best way would be to first bring the magical world up to the level of the mundane, and then to use science to study magic and determine what it really was. Over the coming decades, more and more people became aware of magic, it becoming sort of an open secret among certain circles.

It was in the late seventies, that three brilliant young women who had recently graduated from Hogwarts and had moved on to Merlin's College at Oxford, along with their husbands, discovered that magic was an energy matrix that could be detected, and that Magic users were just individuals born with the ability to manipulate it. All around the world, scientists celebrated the new branch of science coming from the minds of Mrs. Lilly Potter, Alice Longbottom, and Anastasia Greengrass, formerly Romanov, along with their patron Lord Riddle, and their Husbands. Twenty years later, it was Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Parvati and Padma Patil, Susan Bones, George and Fred Weasley, and Luna Lovegood who made the next great break through by finding a way for technology to manipulate the underlying power of the universe, which everyone used to call magic. In almost no time, the world had come together as one to solve its problems. Devices could be found in every former desert on earth, which created water using sand and air as its fuel. Houses were built smaller, and often underground since space expansion was a part of everyday life, miles and miles of surface becoming gigantic public parks and nature preserves. Teleportation gates became ubiquitous, moving cars to the realm of sport and leisure. Magic had allowed the world to become what philosophers had dreamed of, and the beings of the earth, magic and mundane, turned their gaze to the stars.

Tom Riddle fell to his knees, his body wracked by sobs as he went over what could have been. Spiral walked over to him and placed his hand upon Riddle's head. Before the fire of divine judgment could consume Riddle, Harry Potter spoke.

"Tom, I have hated you for as long as I have known about you and what you did to my parents and the world. It has been my goal to see that everyone you killed or hurt got justice, and it began to consume me. I want to tell you Tom, that before you are judged by the maker, you should know that I forgive you for what you did to me. I know how good that old man was at manipulation and control, and I hope that someday, your soul may find peace for what you have done." With that said, the vivid green eyes once more became the divine light backed eyes of Spiral/Harry and judgment was passed.

Just before his body was fully consumed, Tom Riddle looked at those surrounding him, and he whispered, "I'm sorry."

When the shaft of divine flame consumed him, it split and moved to all of his marked followers, casting judgment on them since they were willing slaves, branded by their master to his will by their own souls and magic. Unlike before, none would get off by claiming imperious, as the divine fire measured their worth and found them lacking in their humanity. The light in the graveyard in Little Hangleton was so bright as all of the followers of Lord Voldemort were consumed in judgment that the surrounding countryside appeared to be as bright as a summer s day in the noonday sun. In nearby towns and villages, people came out of their homes, businesses, and the local pubs to see what was happening, and soon every road toward Little Hangleton was packed with the curious and the media. Helicopters from the news agencies diverted their flights from evening traffic coverage toward what was happening in the south, and the militaries of nations across the globe mobilized at the first sign of what appeared to be a bomb of some kind going off in southern England.

The light lasted for five whole minutes before it streaked toward the heavens in a massive column fifty yards wide, and one hundred miles high, before dissipating into the ether. Spiral/Harry sank to the ground on bended knee and once again became Harry Potter and Spiral, the flames receding until there was just a boy and a phoenix where before there stood an avatar of the divine.

As always, it was Luna who put everything into focus for the others. "Well Harry, you did well and succeeded where all others have failed. Now it is time for you to get ready for your next adventure, as it is time that the worlds of magic and mundane come together as a whole, united under the Creator and his plans, for there is more to this universe than one small blue green planet at the far end of a minor galaxy, and the destiny of all the species of Earth are held in the far reaches of space and time. Now clean up yourself so you make a good impression with the media, and hurry it up. The sooner you are done, the sooner we can all go looking for Crumple-Horned Snorcacks."

Luna looked around at all those who had become part of Harry s council of advisors, and after taking a mental tally, she turned back to Harry. So Harry, while we are waiting I have a question that I need to ask you and this is very important.

You know that I will answer any question you have Luna, after all it is you that have guided me through the danger and peril I have faced in this tournament and I am grateful to you and everything you have done for me and all of our friends.

Thank you for your kindness Harry, it has been wonderful having friends. Now, and I want you to think about this really hard Harry, because it is really important for the future. Harry, have you ever heard of a collective?"

Two male groans sounded out from behind where Harry's core group had gathered around Luna and him, causing some in the group to go for their wands before a voice they recognized spoke up.

"Just great," Cedric said to Victor in a only slightly joking manner. "Bloody Harry 'I Am The Savior Of The World and All Women Swoon Before Me' Potter is forming a collective. Thats it, I am moving far away from England, maybe somewhere on the West Coast of America."

Luna looked over at him with a look that no one was sure about said, "Shut up Edwar, I mean Cedric. You have your own destiny and you should just be glad that Harry likes smart girls and not angsty, melodramatic loners or I would send Harry to go get one more for us. Now why don't you stay over there in the back ground and work on your sparkling personality, or sparkly something at any rate. Now Harry, I, and I believe most of the people here are waiting for their reward for helping you. Now kiss me like you mean it and we will explain the details to you later."

Harry had not hung around the smartest girl of her generation, the greatest seer since the Oracle of Delphi, nor been the son of the brightest witch of the previous generation without learning when he should shelve his own questions and just go with where the women in his life were pointing him. Harry James Potter, savior of the world from the darkness that was Tom and Albus, swept Luna into an embrace that had her bent over backwards in delight, and proceded to lay a kiss on her that had all of his focus and attention centered on her lips.

Luna was not sure where this new Harry came from, but she sure liked it. That was the last coherent thought she had for a while as Harry's laser like focus pushed all thoughts from her head as she became the center of his world, and her world turned black with blissful overload and Harry laid her unconscious form carefully on the ground.

Everyone around was shocked at what they just saw, and Hermione was about to berate Harry for what ever he had done to Luna. Alas, she didn't get the chance as from her left, a French missile was headed in toward Harry, and from her right a normally subdued Professor from Hogwarts brushed past her, determination in her eyes and a cry of "My Turn!" On her lips.

Harry only had a moment to think before the next set of lips crushed into his, and a phrase he had heard from a movie Dudley had watched that seemed to fit popped into his head. "It's good to be the King!"

The End?


End file.
